KALAMAZOO, Mich. – With their magic number down to one, the Kenosha Kingfish (38-31) took down the Kalamazoo Growlers (40-29) on the road 7-3.
The win clinches the Northwoods League South Division second half title for Kenosha and a home playoff game at Historic Simmons Field. Kenosha’s second half record sits at 25-10 after the victory. The playoff berth is the second in franchise history and first since 2015, when the Kingfish won the Summer Collegiate World Series.
Kaleb Schmidt (Drury) started the game for Kenosha and was great on the mound. Schmidt went five innings giving up just three runs while striking out four and walking just one. Schmidt picked up the win, his third on the season.
Bryce Carter (Stanford) got Kenosha out in front first with a two-run home run in the second inning, his second homer on the season.
Devin Ortiz (Virginia) made it 4-0 Kenosha on a two RBI single to center in the fourth inning. After Ortiz’s hit, the Growlers put three on the board by the sixth making it a one run ballgame. Three of the four runs scored where put on base with walks. The Kingfish as a team walked 11 times in this game, their second straight with double digit walks. That’s as close as Kalamazoo got as the Kingfish led wire to wire.
Carson McCusker (Oklahoma State) scored on a double steal in the seventh inning to inch Kenosha ahead and Connor Doyle (San Diego) singled home a run in the eighth to extend the lead further. For good measure, Evan McDonald (Fairleigh Dickinson) doubled home one more run in the ninth.
Jack Zimmerman (Kent State) came into the game after Schmidt and pitched three innings of clean ball with two strikeouts. Colton Gordon (Florida) closed it out by pitching the last inning. He did allow one hit but erased him and faced the minimum.
The Kingfish will be back at Homer Stryker Field Friday evening to face the Growlers at 6:05 p.m. CT. The game can be listened to on Ustream on the Kenosha Kingfish Radio Network.
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The Kenosha Kingfish 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, more than 200 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.KingfishBaseball.com or download the new Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play and set the Kingfish as your favorite team.
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