KALAMAZOO, MI- In the first five innings the Battle Creek ‘Daves’ could only muster one hit against the Kalamazoo ‘Jakobs’, but seven runs in the final four innings gave Battle Creek their first win of the season by a final of 7-1.

The I-94 rivals came together to rename their teams for a fan in the “9 innings of fame night”, in front of a season high crowd of 3,121 at Homer Stryker Field. Battle Creek became the ‘Daves’ and Kalamazoo became the ‘Jakobs’ in a one of a kind promotion.

Jordan Swiss was the main contributor for Battle Creek smacking a 2-run homerun in the sixth inning after Kalamazoo grabbed a one-run lead in the bottom of the 4th on a Parker Murdie infield single with the bases loaded.

Kalamazoo had the bases loaded three separate times Friday night but could only muster one run in the three scenarios. Kalamazoo left twelve runners on base and only picked up three base hits.

Walter Tolcott grabbed the win for Battle Creek pitching five innings of two hit one run baseball. The ‘Daves’ then used a combination of four bullpen pitchers to shut out the ‘Jakobs’, only surrendering one hit in the final four innings.

Connor Adams had never pitched in a collegiate game, and all was going well until Swiss’ bomb in the 6th inning that gave Battle Creek a lead they would never surrender.

Adams had pitched 5.1 innings of 1 hit baseball, but an infield single from Connor Bailey ended a stretch of nine straight retired, and then on the next pitch Swiss promptly smashed a no-doubter to left field.

Battle Creek went on to add five more runs after the homerun, with 2-run singles from both Will Baker and Riley Tirotta. The ‘Daves’ dominated the ‘Jakobs’ bullpen with six hits and four runs in the final two innings.

Donovan Clark continued to be a bright spot in the Kalamazoo lineup, as the speedster from Huntington added to his Northwoods League leading stolen base total. Clark now has six stolen bases on the season.

Battle Creek moved to 1-2 on the young season with the victory, and Kalamazoo fell back to 2-2 with the loss.

Battle Creek and Kalamazoo will play the next chapter of the I-94 rivalry tomorrow night in Battle Creek at C.O. Brown Stadium with first pitch at 7:05pm E.T.

###

The Kalamazoo Growlers are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. Entering its 25th anniversary season, the Northwoods 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, 190 former 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 (TOR).  All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League portal. For more information, visit www.growlersbaseball.com or download the Northwoods League App!