KALAMAZOO, MI – Starting pitcher Jack Nelson picked up his league-leading fourth win tonight. Nelson and the Growlers beat the Wisconsin Woodchucks 6-2 and advanced to 9-6 on the season.
Nelson pitched 6.0 innings only allowing two runs on four hits. But the pitching wasn’t the only side of the story for Kalamazoo tonight as their hitting came back with a vengeance. The Growlers put up eleven hits, starting with a single from Ivan Johnson (University of Georgia). Johnson was followed by a walk from Baron Radcliff to put two runners on, with Zach Daniels coming to the plate. Daniels, a sophomore at University of Tennessee, wasted no time with his two-run stand up triple to start the Growlers out on top in the bottom of the first.
The Growlers continued scoring from there, never letting up. In the bottom of the second, Sam Crail from Indiana University lead off the inning with a double, then later stole home after Jordan Bowersox (Penn State) got himself into a pickle between first and second base. Then in the fourth inning, Crail hit a homerun over the left field fence to extend the lead over the Woodchucks 4-0.
Wisconsin tried to cut the lead a little but only ended up scoring one in the top of the fifth from a Payton Nelson single to left field. The Woodchucks again tried to cut the lead in the sixth but again only scored one run to make the score 4-2.
The Growlers answered back in the bottom of the sixth with a solo homerun from catcher Jonathan Foster from Florida State University. Then Kalamazoo scored one more run in the bottom of the seventh to seal the deal on a wild pitch.
The Growlers will be back in action again at 7:05 PM tomorrow against the Wisconsin Woodchucks at Homer Stryker Field.
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The Kalamazoo Growlers are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. Entering its 25th anniversary season, the Northwoods 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, 190 former Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS), two-time World Series Champions Ben Zobrist (CHC) and Brandon Crawford (SFG) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (BOS), Jordan Zimmermann (DET) and Curtis Granderson (TOR). 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.