Growlers Fall to Pit Spitters 8-4
July 29, 2025 - Northwoods League (Northwoods)
Kalamazoo Growlers News Release
KALAMAZOO, Mich. -- The Kalamazoo Growlers (32-30; 15-12) fell to the Traverse City Pit Spitters (41-20; 20-7) in the teams final regular season matchup in 2025.
The two teams are currently slated to face-off in the first round of the Northwoods League playoffs at seasons end, but the Pit Spitters took the overall regular season series eight games to four. Following an emotional finish on Monday night, Traverse City would come out swinging, while Kalamazoo would struggle offensively and look sluggish on the other side of the ball.
In the first, the Pit Spitters would leadoff the game with a run two batters in, as Jacob Kucharczyk would come home on an Aaron Piasecki sacrifice fly. The second run of the inning would come via another sac fly, this one off the bat of Cade Collins. Traverse City would score another in the third, with Cole Prout going the other way for a solo shot. The Growlers would score for the first time in the fourth, off a Mike Sprockett RBI single to move the score to 3-1.
In a spot start, Hayden Scalf was impressive through five, allowing just the three runs through five innings, but would start to struggle in the fifth. The Pit Spitters would score four in the sixth, sending 10 batters to the plate before leaving the bases loaded as Drew Duckhorn would manage the final out. Scalf's final line would not be representative of his true performance, ending the day with 5.2 innings of work while allowing nine hits and seven earned runs.
The Growlers would find success following the stretch, as the first five batters would reach, before Brodey Acres would be caught stealing second for the first out of the inning, before the final two batters would strikeout, limiting Kalamazoo's success to just three runs, making the score 7-4. Traverse City would add a run in the eighth and Trent Reed would sit down the Growlers 1-2-3 in the ninth and give the Pit Spitters their eighth win in the 131 Rivalry Series this summer.
Maybe the most impressive feat of the night for Traverse City was the zero strikeouts they amassed over their 27 batting outs. Scalf, Duckhorn, Holder, Burch, and Juday failed to sit a Pit Spitters down via the "K" as Traverse City forced the Kalamazoo defense to work. The Growlers and Pit Spitters will both enjoy a day off on Wednesday before heading into their final 10 games of the season.
Northwoods League Stories from July 29, 2025
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