The Royal Oak Leprechauns just completed a five-game homestand in four days. Just one was a normal, nine-inning game.
Two games ended early, one lasted almost five hours, and another does not actually end for another few weeks.
The normal game went first. Royal Oak beat the Traverse City Pit Spitters 5-4 in the first Leprechauns game televised on ESPN+.
Chaos began to unfold the following day. Traverse City was still in town for Wednesday, a doubleheader, and Thursday.
The first game of the doubleheader went ten innings and four hours and 57 minutes in 93 degree heat. The Leprechauns held a lead as large as seven and ended with 13 runs, but lost by five in a game that featured 31 total runs and 36 hits.
In game two, Royal Oak held a 4-0 lead entering the seventh inning before a lightning delay. Nick Williams dazzled that night by surrendering just one hit in six innings. Williams was taken out following the delay, and an attempted resumption went haywire once a massive storm hit the ballpark.
By the time the game was called off, and Royal Oak awarded the win, Traverse City had scored two runs and had the bases loaded with just one out.
That storm led to power outages around the area the following day. Another game was scheduled for 6:35 p.m. with the Pit Spitters, but the lights at Memorial Park were not working, and the team was unable to hold a broadcast. The game was moved up an hour, then moved back again after more rain hit the area.
The two squads ended up playing six innings of barn-burning baseball before it became too dark to continue. Traverse City and Royal Oak will pick the game up where it was left off on July 3, the next time the Pit Spitters were scheduled to come back. Royal Oak will hold a 9-7 lead going into the top of the seventh inning.
Friday night’s game against the Kalamazoo Growlers ended in the eighth, following another rain delay. Most Leprechaun bats had been quiet all night, besides Ryan McKay. He ended up having two doubles and a triple.
McKay ended up being the final out as the leadoff man in the bottom half of the eighth. The game was stopped after the bottom of the seventh, and the top half of the eighth went by without too much issue following the roughly 45-minute delay.
McKay hit a ground ball and slipped out of the box on the turf. Immediately afterwards, the game was ended as a precautionary measure due to the wet turf.
The Leprechauns play Kalamazoo again Saturday, this time on the road. They then have singular road games against the Kenosha Kingfish and Traverse City before welcoming the Battle Creek Battle Jacks for a home game on June 25.
