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. 

###

 The Northwoods League is the proven leader in the development of elite college baseball players. Currently in its’ 26thseason, the Northwoods League is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 22 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, over 200 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 (MIA). All league games are vie

wable live via the Northwoods League website. For more information, visit www.northwoodsleague.com or download the Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play.