KALAMAZOO, Mich. — The Kalamazoo Growlers (20-13) struggled to get going against the Royal Oak Leprechauns (17-16) in an 8-3 loss Friday night.

To open the scoring, Luke Kosko continued to terrorize opposing pitchers for the Leprechauns, blasting a solo home run in the second inning to give Royal Oak a 1-0 advantage.

In response, Teddy Tokheim found his own solo home run, tying things up in the fourth inning. The 1-1 tie lasted until the end of the fifth inning.

In the top of the sixth inning, R.J. Anglin threw his final inning which involved a two-run home run and an RBI single, giving the Leprechauns a 4-1 lead.

Kalamazoo answered in the bottom of the inning, scoring two runs off Chase Thomas‘s first home run of the year, but failed to score the remainder of the contest.

Royal Oak scored four unanswered runs against the Kalamazoo bullpen, taking the first game of the series 8-3.

The loss puts Kalamazoo one-half game behind Traverse City at the top of the Great Lakes East with the Pit Spitters’ Friday night matchup being postponed to Saturday. Kalamazoo has three games remaining in the first half.

The Growlers and Leprechauns will face off again Saturday night with first pitch scheduled for 6:35 p.m. ET.