The Royal Oak Leprechauns used early fireworks and a stellar start by Aidan Cremarosa to grab an 11-6 Independence Day victory over Traverse City.
“My team was right behind me and kept the pitch count down, so it felt good,” Cremarosa said.
The Fresno State product handed in five scoreless frames and only faced one above the minimum during his first start and third appearance with Royal Oak.
“Aidan’s really, really good, man,” said Leprechauns head coach Jonathan Vance. “He’s got incredible stuff, and he’s really, really smart when it comes to sequencing and how his stuff plays in the zone.”
On top of Cremarosa’s dominant performance, Royal Oak’s bats hammered the Pit Spitters early on. The Leprechauns held an 8-0 lead by the time they turned to the bullpen.
Alex Cheeseman, making his season debut, hit in the first runs of the day with a double with the bases loaded, getting three RBIs. Cheeseman had no RBIs in 14 games with the Leprechauns last summer. He also added a bunt single, two walks, and two stolen bags.
“My teammates did a good job getting on base, so kind of just doing my job trying to cash them in,” Cheeseman said. “Ended up finding a gap, scoring all three, so it’s good to help the team get a dub.”
Royal Oak got other good performances from recent additions. Jayden Lopez reached base three times and swiped a bag during his season debut. Brayden Dowd went 2-for-3 with a walk and a sacrifice fly added on in his second game of the summer. Ryan Tyranski drew four walks in what was his tenth appearance with the team.
Despite the big lead, Traverse City was able to get back into the game with four runs in the sixth and two in the seventh, cutting the deficit to two.
Royal Oak had a response. Cheeseman scored on a wild pitch and Riley Frost hit a sacrifice fly in the seventh to get the lead back to four. Dowd’s sacrifice fly in the eighth made it 11-6.
Vance gave the final two innings to the fellow Northwood Timberwolf and Royal Oak’s top bullpen option, Jake Jekielek. He closed the door with three strikeouts and one hit and one walk. His sixth straight scoreless outing dropped his ERA to 0.87 for the summer.
The five-run victory is the team’s widest since June 12, when the Leprechauns beat Kenosha 7-0. It propels Royal Oak to 20-18 overall and 2-1 in the second half.
Royal Oak’s next challenge is a two-game set with the Battle Creek Battle Jacks. The Leprechauns have struggled against Battle Creek this year, having fallen all four times in prior meetings. The Battle Jacks also outscored Royal Oak 35-13 in those games.
Game one of that series takes place in Battle Creek, before the teams travel to the Lucky Corner for game two on Saturday. First pitch is set for 6:35 p.m. for both matchups.
