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Published On: July 16th, 2017

KALAMAZOO, MI – The Fond du Lac Dock Spiders rallied from six runs down to beat the Kalamazoo Growlers 10-7 in the final game before the Northwoods League All-Star break. 

After a solo home run from Nick Fortes in the first, the Growlers answered with seven runs in their half of the inning. Dock Spiders' starting pitcher Jack Collins struggled with his command, allowing four walks in 1/3 of an inning. He walked in three runs before Kyle Huckaby relieved him. 

The first batter Huckaby faced was Ivan Estrella, who singled in two runs to make it 5-0. Then, Kaleb Murphy singled in two more runs to make it 7-0. Fond du Lac resorted to the long ball to find their way back into the game. In all, they hit four home runs on the day. 

In the fourth, Jason Santana hit a two-run homer to left, making it 7-3. Growlers' starter Ryan Johnson left the game and was replaced by Blaine Fisher in the fifth. Eric Gilgenbach then hit a two-run home run off Fisher to make it 7-5. 

With the game 7-6 in the 7th, Brandon Wulff hit a solo homer off Zach Vitkuske to tie the game.

With two outs in the 9th, Andrew Bullock bunted against the shift. Pitcher Walter Talcott tried to make the play and threw the ball away, allowing him to advance to second. A ground ball to Connor Hollis looked like it would get the Growlers out of the inning, but a low throw allowed the ball to get away from first basemen Mitch Bigras and Bullock scored, making it 8-7. 

Fond du Lac went on to score two more runs, leaving the Growlers down three with three outs left in the game. While the Growlers were able to load the bases, they couldn't bring any runs across and the game ended. 

The Growlers return to action after the All-Star break with a two game series at Rockford July 20/21 and then are back in Kalamazoo on Saturday, July 22. 

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The Kalamazoo Growlers are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. The 23-year-old summer collegiate league is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 20 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 180 former Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including two-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS), two-time World Series Champion Ben Zobrist (CHC) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (BOS), Jordan Zimmermann (DET), Curtis Granderson (NYM) and Lucas Duda (NYM).  All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League portal. For more information, visit www.growlersbaseball.com or download the new Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play and set the Growlers as your favorite team.