KALAMAZOO, MI – In their 2015 home opener at Homer Stryker Field, the Kalamazoo Growlers fell to the rival Battle Creek Bombers 5-3 in front of a crowd of 4,510.

Errors hurt the Growlers (0-4) in the top of the first as Dan Swain (Siena), after hitting a single, was able to advance to scoring position after a bad throw by Growlers’ third basemen Marquise Gill. After stealing third, Swain was able to score off a sacrifice fly by Lin Li (National Taiwan).

Kalamazoo did not score until the bottom of the sixth as Gill scored off a fielder's choice by Justin Fletcher (Northern Illinois) to make the score 3-1.

With two outs in the top of the seventh the Growlers committed another error when first baseman Bryce Adams (LSU) could not catch a throw from third which set up runners on the corners. The Bombers (2-2) stringed together several hits after the error to plate two and make the score 5-1 going into the bottom of the seventh.

The Growlers would not go down without a fight, though. In the bottom of the eighth, Gill led off with a single. After a popout, Justin Fletcher hit a single into right field which put runners on first and third. Charles Leblanc (Pittsburgh) then grounded out to second to score Gill and make the score 5-2. On the next batter, Fletcher came home on a wild pitch to score the final run for the Growlers.

Derek Schneider (Western Michigan) picked up the loss for the Growlers, tossing 6.2 innings and giving up five runs (one earned) on eight hits.

Nick Wernke (West Virginia) and Justin Schander (Phoenix College) combined for the final 2.1 innings and didn’t allow any more Bomber runs.

Michael Peterson (River City College) started for Bombers, going three innings and striking out three. Kaleb McCurry (Mars Hill College) picked up the win for the Bombers after two scoreless innings while striking out three.

Nathan Witt (Michigan State) and Karmen Joostberns (Aquinas) combined for the final four innings and Witt picked up the two earned runs.

Stephen Letz (Northern Illinois) picked up two hits, while Gill scored two runs.

Swain led the Bombers by going 3-for-5, while Jared Hendren (Illinois State) scored twice.

The Growlers will face the Rochester Honkers Saturday at 7:05 p.m. at Homer Stryker Field as Kalamazoo looks to pick up its first win of the season.

The Northwoods League is the proven leader in the development of elite college baseball players. The 21-year old summer collegiate league is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 18 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, 120 Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (CWS), Jordan Zimmermann (WAS), Curtis Granderson (NYM), Lucas Duda (NYM) and Ben Zobrist (OAK). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League YouTube channel. For more information, visit http://www.northwoodsleague.com.