TRAVERSE CITY, MI – In a winner-take-all playoff game, the Traverse City Pit Spitters mounted a late-game comeback to sink the Great Lakes Resorters 6-3 and advance to the championship for the second year in a row in front of 500 jubilant fans Thursday night at Turtle Creek Stadium.
Three different Traverse City pitchers combined for eight strikeouts while leaving 11 Great Lakes runners on base as Stanford University commit, Tommy Troy, led the charge on offense going 3-for-4 with a double and two RBIs in the victory.
After back-to-back one-two-three innings, Spitters starter, Dalton O’Boyle, allowed a pair of runs to cross in the third inning as Chase Bessard crossed on a wild pitch before Champ Davison was plunked by a fastball, scoring Anthony Pohl from third base and delivering Great Lakes the early 2-0 advantage. Traverse City responded in the bottom of the third frame as Tommy Troy crossed on a wild pitch to slim the Resorters lead to 2-1. Both teams struck for individual tallies in the fifth inning as Resorters outfielder, Aaron Hurd, stole home before Pit Spitters second baseman, Brant Kym, pounded an RBI-single to cut the Traverse City lead to 3-2. In the eight frame, Traverse City Saint Francis standout, Keaton Peck, tied the game with an RBI-single before Tommy Troy scored a couple of runners on a two-RBI double into the outfield, forging the Spitters out in front 6-3. Great Lakes outfielder, Ryan Rifenberg, reached via an error to start off the ninth before Pit Spitters closer, Evan Gates, induced a ground out and back-to-back strikeouts to earn the victory and send Traverse City on to the championship game, 6-3.
Pit Spitters closer, Evan Gates (1-0), tossed 2.0 innings of shutout baseball with a pair of strikeouts in his first win this postseason. Gates, a closer out of North Carolina A&T State University, has allowed just three earned runs through 22.1 innings of work on 28 punch outs this entire summer. Resorters reliever, Jonathan Russomano (0-1), allowed four earned runs on four hits in the loss.
UP NEXT
The Traverse City Pit Spitters return to Turtle Creek Stadium to host the winner of the SW Michigan Northwoods League Pod Saturday evening starting at 4:05PM. Pregame coverage with Nate Wangler begins at 7:00 PM on the Northwoods League Baseball Network. Tickets are available for any Pit Spitters/Resorters contest at pitspitters.com or by calling the front office at (231) – 943 – 0100.
About Northwoods League:
The Northwoods League is the proven leader in the development of elite college baseball players. Now entering its’ 27th season, the Northwoods League is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 22 teams, drawing significantly more fans, in a friendly ballpark experience, than any league of its kind. A valuable training ground for coaches, umpires and front office staff, over 230 Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including three-time All-Star and 2016 Roberto Clemente Award winner Curtis Granderson, three-time Cy Young Award winner and World Series Champion Max Scherzer (WAS), two-time World Series Champions Ben Zobrist (CHC) and Brandon Crawford (SFG) and World Series Champion Chris Sale (BOS). As well as 2019 Rookie of the Year and Home Run Derby Champion Pete Alonso (NYM) and MLB All-Star Jordan Zimmermann (DET). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League website. For more information, visit www.northwoodsleague.com or download the Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play.
