KALAMAZOO, MI – The Kalamazoo Growlers are excited to announce their complete opening day roster for the 2017 NWL season. The roster contains college baseball talent from across the country, as well as talent from the Kalamazoo area.
Returning to the Growlers this season are RHP Hayden Brauser (Missouri Southern State), C Nick Hutchins (Southern Illinois), and LHP Blaine Fisher (Pittsburg State), and RHP Zachary Vitkuske (Muskegon CC).
The Growlers roster features players who play their college ball in the Kalamazoo area as well players who are native to the Kalamazoo area. RHP Luke Schafer a Kalamazoo native from Toledo University, RHP Ryan Franklin (Kalamazoo College), From Mattawan RHP Joseph Knapp (KVCC) and OF Chad Huntley Jr. (Indiana State), and 2B/SS/OF from Portage Ryan Mergener (Wayne State).
The pitching staff includes LHP Simon Andersson an international player from Sweden, RHP Tyler Drabick (Kent State), LHP Quinton Forrester (Valdosta State), LHP Austin Hamilton (Valdosta State), LHP Ryan Johnson (Lamar), RHP Joseph Knapp (KVCC), RHP George Lamb (UT Rio Grande Valley), RHP Connor Manous (Indiana), RHP Justin McMurtrey (Eastern Michigan), RHP Beau Ridgeway (UT Austin), RHP Walter Talcott (Earlham College), RHP Sam Traver (Grand Rapids CC), and RHP Bryce Welborn (Eastern New Mexico),
The infielders are as follows, 2B/3B Colin Boerst (Hillsdale College), SS Michael Diffley (SDSU), SS/2B/3B Anthony Dungan (Indiana State), SS/2B/3B Ivan Estrella (UT Rio Grande Valley), SS/2B/3B Connor Hollis (University of Houston), SS/2B/3B Andrew Huff (Middle Tennessee State University), SS/2B Colin McClelland (Muskegon CC), 1B Nick Stokowski (Central Michigan), and SS/2B/3B Jason Sullivan (Central Michigan).
The outfielders are as follows, Jack Duffy (Missouri State), Matthew Koehler (Western Carolina), Christian Moya (University of Southern California), and Jeffery Riedel (Ball State)
The catchers are as follows, Drew Millas C/2B/OF, Kaleb Murphy (University of Southern California), and Ryan Orr (SDSU).
The 2017 season gets underway on May 30th at 7:05 ET as the Growlers host the Rockford Rivets. Visit growlersbaseball.com or call (269) 492-9966 to purchase tickets, but act fast weekend games are already 90 percent sold out!
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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 160 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.