{"id":18222,"date":"2025-05-27T02:53:47","date_gmt":"2025-05-27T02:53:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/northwoodsleague.com\/royal-oak-leprechauns\/?p=18222"},"modified":"2025-05-27T04:45:58","modified_gmt":"2025-05-27T04:45:58","slug":"comeback-for-royal-oak-falls-short-in-12-10-opening-day-loss-to-kalamazoo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/northwoodsleague.com\/royal-oak-leprechauns\/2025\/05\/27\/comeback-for-royal-oak-falls-short-in-12-10-opening-day-loss-to-kalamazoo\/","title":{"rendered":"Comeback for Royal Oak falls short in 12-10 Opening Day loss to Kalamazoo"},"content":{"rendered":"

ROYAL OAK, MI – The Leprechauns were unable to dig out of the deep hole they put themselves in against the defending Northwoods League champion Kalamazoo Growlers<\/a> in a 12-10 result on Monday\u2019s Opening Day contest.<\/span><\/p>\n

Through three innings, the Growlers had already opened up an 8-0 lead. Seven of those runs came in the first inning off of starting pitcher Ryan Kruse<\/a>, six being earned. Kalamazoo\u2019s first six batters reached base after the game began with Royal Oak second baseman Max Orozco<\/a> committing an error.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was just tough getting out of the first,\u201d Leprechaun field manager Chris Faust said. \u201cLetting up seven in the first inning, that\u2019s always tough to come from behind in that sense.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cRyan Kruse, he struggled today,\u201d Faust also said. \u201cBut I know he\u2019s got a lot more in the tank and I\u2019ve seen him play a lot better than that and he\u2019s gonna keep getting better throughout the summer.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

As a result, Faust had to start a de facto bullpen game. For the most part, those thrust into action handled it well. Kalamazoo scored an unearned run in the third with Eastern Michigan product Cal Rutherford<\/a> in the game and scored runs nine through 12 via a two-out grand slam by Brodey Acres off William Fockler<\/a>. Fischer Hendershot<\/a>, another reliever from EMU, threw two scoreless innings and Thomas product Nick Brady<\/a> did the same thing.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe way that those guys were able to step up in situations that pretty much none of us were prepared for is pretty impressive,\u201d Faust said. \u201c(I have) a lot of hope and a lot of excitement moving forward with our bullpen.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

As for the offense, the lineup filled with capable bats woke up in the fourth and beyond. In fact, Royal Oak scored at least one run in each of the final six innings of the game.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou watch our hitters after the third inning scoring runs every inning,\u201d Faust said about his offense. \u201cThere\u2019s a ton of potential on both sides of the ball.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The problem is that it was all ones and twos until a three-run ninth. That just wasn\u2019t enough to catch up to the seven and four spots the Growlers had been able to put on the board.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Of the nine batters for the Leprechauns, it was Texas A&M-Corpus Christi\u2019s Tristan Crane<\/a> that shined the brightest for the home squad. Crane hit a double off the bases of the left-center wall in the second, drove in Royal Oak\u2019s first run of the summer on a sacrifice fly in the fourth, and hit a two-RBI triple down the right field line during the ninth.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a gamer,\u201d Faust said about Crane. \u201cHe was playing shortstop out there for us and when he steps in the box, he\u2019s got a plan and he executes it well. It was nice to see him get some barrels early on in the season.”<\/span><\/p>\n

EMU\u2019s Devan Zirwas<\/a> also had a two-hit game and received an RBI by drawing a bases-loaded walk during the seventh. Yale\u2019s Owen Turner<\/a> also had two RBIs via a sacrifice fly in the fourth and an RBI groundout in the ninth. Crane, Jack Dauer<\/a> (Yale) and Orozco (Oakland) also scored multiple times.<\/span><\/p>\n

Royal Oak will now try to split this two-game series with the league\u2019s defending champs tomorrow. First pitch will be at 11:05 a.m.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ROYAL OAK, MI – The Leprechauns were unable to dig out of the deep hole they put themselves in against […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":147,"featured_media":18225,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nComeback for Royal Oak falls short in 12-10 Opening Day loss to Kalamazoo - Royal Oak Leprechauns<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/northwoodsleague.com\/royal-oak-leprechauns\/2025\/05\/27\/comeback-for-royal-oak-falls-short-in-12-10-opening-day-loss-to-kalamazoo\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Comeback for Royal Oak falls short in 12-10 Opening Day loss to Kalamazoo\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"ROYAL OAK, MI – The Leprechauns were unable to dig out of the deep hole they put themselves in against [...]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/northwoodsleague.com\/royal-oak-leprechauns\/2025\/05\/27\/comeback-for-royal-oak-falls-short-in-12-10-opening-day-loss-to-kalamazoo\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Royal Oak Leprechauns\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-05-27T02:53:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-05-27T04:45:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/assets.northwoodsleague.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2025\/05\/Dauer.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1073\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"676\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jacob Cotsonika\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@jacobcotsonika\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jacob Cotsonika\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/northwoodsleague.com\/royal-oak-leprechauns\/2025\/05\/27\/comeback-for-royal-oak-falls-short-in-12-10-opening-day-loss-to-kalamazoo\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/northwoodsleague.com\/royal-oak-leprechauns\/2025\/05\/27\/comeback-for-royal-oak-falls-short-in-12-10-opening-day-loss-to-kalamazoo\/\",\"name\":\"Comeback for Royal Oak falls short in 12-10 Opening Day loss to Kalamazoo - 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