Kalamazoo, MI. — The Kalamazoo Growlers (36-35, 20-19) were only able to muster two hits offensively in an 8-1 defeat to the visiting Traverse City Pit Spitters (52-19, 29-6) at Homer Stryker Field Saturday evening.
Traverse City got on the board in the third with a solo blast from Hudson Byorick to give the visitors an early 1-0 advantage. The Pit Spitters added another run in the fourth to make it 2-0 on a Christian Faust sacrifice fly.
The Pit Spitters posted a crooked number in the seventh with four runs on just two hits, including Byorick’s second homer of the night to stretch the advantage to 6-0.
Kalamazoo knocked its first hit of the contest in the bottom of the seventh on a lead-off double from Nick Neville (South Carolina) after Traverse City starting pitcher Austin Shea had a no-hitter through six and perfect game through four frames. The Growlers plated their only run on a RBI single courtesy of Clay Owens (USC).
Traverse City tacked on a pair of insurance runs in the eighth to extend the margin to seven runs. Shea earned the win on the mound, improving to 5-0. Kalamazoo starter Travis Snyder (Sinclair College) took the loss, falling to 0-2.
The Kalamazoo Growlers remain at Homer Stryker Field tomorrow afternoon for the regular season finale versus Traverse City. First pitch is slated for a 3:05 p.m. start.
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