KALAMAZOO, MI – The La Crosse Loggers came from five runs down to defeat the Kalamazoo Growlers 9-7 in 14 innings on Saturday night in Homer Stryker Field.
The Growlers raced out to a 6-1 lead after four innings when the plated single runs in the first and third before pushing four more across in the fourth to chase Loggers starter Ryan Marks (Columbia) from the game. La Crosse was able to get on the board in the top of the fourth via a solo home run off of the bat of Jordan Zimmerman (Michigan State) who was just gettting started.
The score would remain 6-1 until the top of the eighth as each team posted zeros during the middle innings before Zimmerman strode to the plate in the eighth with the bases loaded and one out. The right-handed hitter then hit his second home run of the night out of Homer Styker Field for a grand slam to cut the Growlers lead to 6-5.
After holding the Growlers quiet in the bottom of the eighth, the Lumbermen went to work again in the top of the ninth. With two outs and the bases loaded Mason McCoy (Iowa) singled in two runs to the give the Loggers a 7-6 lead. That lead was short lived, however, as Kalamazoo pushed across a run in the bottom of the ninth to force extra innings.
Both teams would keep each other off the board until the 14th inning. With two outs and two men on, Zimmerman came through yet again when he laced a double to score both runners and give the Loggers a 9-7 lead. Jordan Jess (Minnesota) then came on to slam the door shut in the bottom of the 14th to earn the victory.
Zimmerman finished the night with three hits, including a pair of home runs, a double and seven RBI's. McCoy raised his season average to .373 with a four-hit night that included two runs scored and two RBI's.
The Loggers bullpen limited the Growlers to one earned run over the final 10.2 innings of play.
With the win the Loggers improved to 13-12 on the season and will now make the short trip to Battle Creek, Mich. to start a two-game set with the Bombers on Sunday. First pitch is set for 5:05 p.m. (Central) with air time on the Logger Radio Network commencing at 4:30 p.m.
