Wausau, Wis. — For the second straight night in Wausau, the Kalamazoo Growlers and Wisconsin Woodchucks hosted extra inning drama. This time, the Growlers shut the door on another comeback by the Woodchucks as Nick Yarnall's (Pittsburgh) two-out RBI single in the top of the 11th gave Kalamazoo an 8-7 lead. Josh Buchalski (Michigan State) came in to pitch the bottom half of the inning and earned his first save of the year, ensuring a split of the two game series.
The Growlers once again gained the early lead as Troy Montgomery (Ohio State) bashed his second home run in as many nights and the Growlers jumped out to a 2-0 advantage in the third inning. Kalamazoo scored a single run in four of the next five innings, but once again the Woodchucks scored three runs in the 8th inning on three solo home runs to creep to a one run deficit.
After both teams exchanged runs in the 10th inning for the second consecutive night, the eleventh inning heroics provided a win for by the Growlers, who not only broke a seven game road losing streak but spoiled the ability for Wisconsin to gain ground in the Northwoods League South Division first half playoff race. Devin Bronson (Eastern Michigan) earned his second victory for the Growlers, who improve to 12-19 on the year. The Woodchucks fell to 18-12 overall. Kalamazoo travels to Kenosha for a two game series to finish out the Wisconsin road trip and returns home on Monday for two games against the Battle Creek Bombers.
The Kalamazoo Growlers are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. Playing its 21st season of summer collegiate baseball, the Northwoods League is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 18 teams, drawing significantly more fans, in a friendly ballpark experience, than any league of its kind. A valuable training ground for coaches, umpires and front office staff, more than 115 Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (DET) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (CWS), Jordan Zimmermann (WAS), Curtis Granderson (NYM), Allen Craig (STL) and Ben Zobrist (TB). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League YouTube channel. For more information, visit http://www.growlersbaseball.com.