KENOSHA, Wis. – After a late comeback fell short, the Kenosha Kingfish fell to the Kalamazoo Growlers Wednesday night by a final score of 3-2.

The Kingfish continued their trend of scoring early Wednesday night after jumping to a 1-0 lead in the second inning. With two runners on via an error and a walk, Ethan Moore shot a two-out single up the middle to hand the Kingfish the first lead of the night. However, an RBI double by Joshua Algarin quickly tied the game in the top of the third.

What were already impressive outings by both starting pitchers seemed to only escalate as the next four frames were scoreless for both teams. Although he was given a no-decision, Erikas Puodziunas had a career night pitching seven innings for the Kingfish, allowing one run on four hits and collecting 11 strikeouts. Logan Cotton matched Puodziunas’ performance with a magnificent outing of his own pitching six innings, allowing no earned runs on six hits and striking out two batters.

In the eighth, Sotaro Ishida was called upon to preserve the tie in the eighth. After a one-out triple by Brock Sell and a walk, a stolen base put runners on second and third for the Growlers with just one out. Ishida managed to strike out the next batter in Joshua Algarin to keep the runners in their place with two outs, looking to escape the jam. After a hit-by-pitch, the bases were loaded. Nate Webb approached the plate for the Growlers with a chance to break the game open in Kalamazoo’s favor and on the fourth pitch of the at-bat, a ground ball to third looked like it would have been all the Kingfish needed to keep the game tied. That wasn’t the case as an errant throw by Dawson Downs up the right field line would end up being the difference-maker as two Growlers came across to score on the error.

After being down 3-1 going into the bottom of the ninth, a walk by Owen Nowak and one-out single by Dawson Downs put runners on the corners and looked to have the Kingfish threatening. Brendan Fritch was able to drive in Nowak with a groundout to the shortstop, but the Kingfish couldn’t get it done as a 4-3 putout would end the comeback efforts.

After wins for Traverse City and Kalamazoo, the Kenosha Kingfish fall to 1.5 games behind first place in the Great Lakes East Division.

The Kingfish will play one more against the Growlers Thursday night before hosting a two-game series against Battle Creek and a two-game series against Traverse City through the weekend. First pitch on Thursday is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. CDT.

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