TRAVERSE CITY, MI — Luke Krkovski contributes another lengthy, effective start for the Growlers, but his efforts are not enough as Kalamazoo falls to the Traverse City Pit Spitters, 4-1 on Wednesday night from Turtle Creek Stadium.

After starting the season in the bullpen, Krkovski proved his worth time and time again. The Australian earned a “spot start” in two doubleheaders – picking up the resumption of a previously postponed game against Lakeshore, and starting against Rockford on the last road trip. Krkovski looked to keep that momentum going against the division leading Pit Spitters.

In the first inning, things got off to a bit of a shaky start. Back-to-back singles, and a stolen base, meant that a ground ball from Tito Flores was enough to score a run and give Traverse City an early 1-0 lead.

Still, the southpaw limited the damage and began to find a grove moving forward.

Unfortunately, limited traffic on the bases in the third and sixth inning also turned into runs. A lead off walk in the earlier frame was plated by a sacrifice fly from Flores. Then, in the sixth, Flores struck again, hitting a double to left for Traverse City’s first hit since the opening frame. Flores advanced to third on a balk and scored on a Trey Yunger single.

In the seventh, the ball was passed to George Ferguson. The left hander worked two effective innings of relief, conceding only one unearned run and a single hit.

Unfortunately, there just wasn’t much to report from the Kalamazoo offense. The Growlers only mustered three hits in the contest – two coming off the bat of Luke Storm. Pit Spitters’ starter Wyatt Rush was incredibly effective, going seven innings and striking out six, while only walking a pair. The Growlers only run of the ball game was produced by Don Goodes, who singled, stole second, and came around to score on an error in the top half of the fourth.

The loss drops the Growlers to 11-20. Kalamazoo will look to bounce back in tomorrow’s series finale, with first pitch set to take place at 7:05p.m. ET.