The Leprechauns’ last remaining playoff hopes faded away on Wednesday, as the Growlers overpowered Royal Oak, 17-10.
“It obviously sucks,” said Royal Oak head coach Jonathan Vance. “We wanted to sneak our way into there, but the season had to end at some point. Now it’s just about continuing to get better, give these guys their reps and send them back to their programs better than when they left.”
Royal Oak held a 4-0 lead after one inning and a 7-3 lead after four innings. After that point, Kalamazoo outscored the Leprechauns 14-3. The Growlers recorded at least one run in seven innings, including a seven-run fifth.
“Free passes, man,” Vance said. “I think that’s something we’ve kind of struggled with all year with our pitching staff. We had 20 free passes last night, we had 10 more today. But even when we weren’t walking guys, there was a lot of 2-1 counts, 3-1 counts, and those are the counts that these guys are putting balls in play in.”
The 17 runs for the Growlers are the most for the team since they scored a franchise-record 25 on the Leprechauns on July 1. It is the most surrendered by the Leprechauns in a game since July 20.
Wednesday’s result also clinches the season series for Kalamazoo against the Leprechauns. The Growlers have scored 95 runs in the 11 matchups this summer.
This game is also the third time this summer and first time in the second half where Royal Oak reached double-digits and lost. The last instance came in a 18-13 loss to Traverse City on June 19.
Just a few days removed from his second four-hit day as a Leprechaun, Oliver Service bested himself with a five-hit, five-single day. The Texas Longhorn lined something into the outfield his first five times to the plate, with RBIs attached to hits in the fourth and fifth innings.
“O-Serv was tracking the ball extremely well today,” Vance said. “I even told him after his first at-bat, ‘Dude, you’re seeing it differently today.’ and he said, ‘Yeah, I can tell.’”
Drew Charters also got his first two extra base hits as a Leprechaun, roping two-baggers in the fourth and the fifth.
The Leprechauns also got multi-hit days out of Jayden Lopez and Michael Lareau. Lopez also reached on two walks, extending his streak of reaching base safely to 14 games in the process.
One big surprise was the RBI double in the third by Ryan Kruse. The Valparaiso product had been used entirely as a pitcher until subbing in at right field on Tuesday. Kruse, who also drew a bases-loaded walk in the first, sent an 0-1 pitch to the right-center field gap to make it 5-2 Leprechauns at the time. It was Kruse’s first hit in an organized baseball game since his senior year of high school.
“That’s our HitTrax champion,” Vance said.
The Leprechauns pitching staff held a friendly hitting competition during an off day earlier this season, and Kruse won. Kruse ended his day as one of three Leprechauns (Service, Lareau) with multiple RBIs.
Royal Oak will now look to play a bit of spoiler on Thursday. The Leprechauns will go on the road to Kalamazoo for one day to again play the Growlers, who are still in a fight for a playoff spot.
Following that, Royal Oak will close its season with two home games against the Rockford Rivets. The Rivets have already clinched a postseason spot and home field advantage for the first round.
