Three runs scored on an eighth-inning fly ball from Blake Grimmer that right fielder Jayden Lopez lost in the air, allowing the Kalamazoo Growlers to steal a 7-4 win against the Leprechauns on Sunday.
“I thought we shot ourselves in the leg,” said Royal Oak head coach Jonathan Vance. “I thought we had that game won every step of the way. We just didn’t give ourselves a chance to win a game. That game should’ve been won.”
The game’s deciding play headlined a four-error, eight-walk day from the Leprechaun defense. Lopez was not charged with an error in the eighth, but the ball was certainly playable.
“That’s a product of 15 of the previous 20 pitches being balls,” Vance said. “To lose it in the lights is just bad luck.”
Leprechaun pitchers ended up handing out four walks in the frame. Stephen Ruhle walked Kevin Krill to start the frame, but Krill was doubled off after a line out by Lawson Knight to make the bases empty with two outs. Three straight walks preceded Grimmer’s double, two by Ruhle and one by Tommy Szczepanski II.
“Gotta throw strikes, as simple as that,” Vance said. “Can’t keep giving out free passes.”
Kalamazoo grabbed a 3-0 lead during Anthoni Kiafoulis’ two innings on the mound to start the game. Just one run was earned after an error was committed in each of the first two frames, although Kiafoulis walked three batters.
Nolan Coil ended up being the man out of the bullpen to keep the Leprechauns in it. Just one run came across for Kalamazoo during Coil’s five relief innings. The runner reached due to an error.
“Coil’s looked really good, man,” Vance said. “He keeps getting better every time we give him the ball.”
The Calvin College product’s outing allowed Royal Oak to come back. The Leprechauns plated two in the third inning to make it a 3-2 game. Saborn Campbell delivered a two-RBI double to tie the game up in the seventh, following Coil’s final inning and right before Kalamazoo got its three-run lead back.
Campbell was the only Leprechaun with a multi-hit day, and it is his first three-hit day of the summer.
Playoff prospects begin to look bleak for the team in its inaugural season in the Northwoods League. The Leprechauns have lost three straight and are now 3.5 games out of a playoff spot with just 12 games remaining in the regular season.
“Gotta go, gotta go,” Vance said. “That’s really it. Off day tomorrow, kinda hit the reset button, then hit the ground running.”
After this standalone home game following five consecutive games on the road, Royal Oak will hit the road again for four more. The Leprechauns take on the Battle Creek Battle Jacks on July 30 and 31 and face the Rockford Rivets during the first two days of August.
Royal Oak’s next home game is against the Kokomo Jackrabbits on August 3, which begins a stretch of seven Leprechaun home games in the final eight days of the regular season.
