Northwoods Battle Creek Battle Jacks

Battle Creek Bombers Fall to the Kalamazoo Growlers, 9-0

Published on June 4, 2016 under Northwoods League (Northwoods)
Battle Creek Battle Jacks News Release


Kalamazoo, Mich. - The Battle Creek Bombers fell to the Kalamazoo Growlers, 9-0, as Growlers' starter B.J. Butler pitched a complete game shutout, mowing down the Bombers' hitters.

Butler finished with just 101 pitches as he stymied Bombers hitters all night, striking out eight and allowing just six hits. On the other side of the diamond, Bombers' starter Max Ritchie had a little bit more trouble on the mound, allowing five runs on seven hits over four innings pitched, taking the loss for the Bombers.

The Growlers started things off early, as Connor Kopack tripled to lead off the game in the bottom of the first, coming around to score on Dan Robinson's RBI double. Eli Lovell's RBI double later in the first scored Robinson to give the Growlers at 2-0 lead.

The Bombers had a chance to score with runners at first and third and nobody out in the Top of the 2nd inning, but Butler got Christian Helsel to strike out and Cooper Marshall's attempted squeeze play was unsuccessful as Battle Creek was unable to score.

As Butler continued his dominance on the mound, the Growlers broke through again in the fourth as Kasey Cooper launched a two-run home run over the left field fence to give Kalamazoo a 4-0 lead. The Growlers would add one more in the inning, as Michael Crowley would score on Alex Holley's RBI single.

Kaleb McCurry would come on in relief for Ritchie, pitching two scoreless innings for the Bombers.

The Bombers would threaten again in the top of the seventh, with two straight singles by Josh Canabal and Helsel, but after a sacrifice bunt by Aaron Singh, Eric Gilgenbach and Truman Brown were unable to push the runners across.

Yu-Hsuan Chen would relieve McCurry in the seventh, but his night wouldn't be as pretty as he'd give up four runs on three hits to extend the Growlers lead to 9. Chen hit the first batter he faced, before allowing a single to Daniel Leckie and a double to Dan Robinson, followed by a home run to Nick Hutchins to extend the lead to 9.

Neither team would score in the eighth or ninth as the final score would stand at 9-0 Growlers. B.J. Butler picked up the win for the Growlers, while Max Ritchie takes the loss for the Bombers.

Nick Hutchins led things for the Growlers, going 2 for 3 with a single, home run and three RBIs. For the Bombers, Josh Canabal had two singles, while the red-hot Nick Walker added a single of his own.

Battle Creek and Kalamazoo are back in action Sunday afternoon at C.O. Brown Stadium as the two teams face off in the final game of their four game rivalry series, presented by the OnStaff Group. First pitch at C.O. Brown on Sunday afternoon will be at 1:05 with Chi-Ping Wu facing off against Devin Pellien.

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Northwoods League Stories from June 4, 2016


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