KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Kalamazoo Growlers announced today the team’s full roster for the 2018 season. The roster is marked with talent from collegiate programs new to the Growlers organization, such as Clemson, Baylor, Virginia, Oregon State, and Tennessee. The Growlers will also be welcoming players from schools with established relationships like San Diego State, Central Michigan University, and Missouri State.

Said Cody Piechocki, Growlers Field Manager, “We’ve done more research with our analytics team this year and are trying to fit a mold better to what we feel is needed in this league. We’re trying to speed the game up, which is what we had success doing in the second half last year.”

View our interview with Coach Piechocki here. View the full roster here.

Returning to Kalamazoo this season will be RHP Daniel Ritcheson (San Diego State), SP Dakota Roberts (Northwood), RHP Blake Therrian (Western Carolina), RHP Luke Schaefer (Toledo), 2B Jason Sullivan and OF Dan Robinson (both CMU).

The pitchers for this season include: Justin Hagenman (Penn State), Luke Boyd (Baylor), Matt Mervis (Duke), Tom Vail (Notre Dame), Andrew Belcik (ND), Tommy Sommer (IU), Jamison Hill (Fresno State), Nikoh Mitchell (Fresno), Jack Nelson (Boston College), Derek Carr (Ohio U), Sam Springer (Tennessee), Mason Shinaberry (Huntington), Connor Sechler (Missouri State), Jon Law (Heston College), and Connor Adams (Tennessee Tech).

The infielders are as follows: Sam Hall (Clemson), Jared Miller (ND), Niko Kavadas (ND), Cayman Richardson (Virginia), George Mendazona (Oregon State), Sam Faith (Missouri State), Joey Loperfido (Duke).

The outfielders are as follows: Jordan Bowersox (Penn State), Zachary Daniels (Tennessee), Sam Crail (Indiana), and Ryan Benavidez (Arkansas Little Rock).

The catchers will be Brendan Rivoli (Virginia), Joe Fitzhugh (SDSU), and Donald Ring (Hillsdale).

A full updated roster can be found here.

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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.