Pit Spitters Bury Flying Mummies, Win Fifth Straight in 14-9 Shootout
Northwoods Traverse City Pit Spitters

Pit Spitters Bury Flying Mummies, Win Fifth Straight in 14-9 Shootout

Published on June 20, 2026 under Northwoods League (Northwoods)
Traverse City Pit Spitters News Release


Traverse City, MI - The opening matchup of a two-game set, and the first-ever meeting between the Traverse City Pit Spitters and Richmond Flying Mummies, turned into a Saturday night slugfest at Turtle Creek Stadium.

The two teams combined for 21 hits, 23 walks, and 23 runs, but the Pit Spitters held on through a late Richmond comeback attempt to earn a 14-9 win.

Traverse City has now won a season-best five straight games, moving to 16-11 overall. With the victory, the Pit Spitters passed the Flying Mummies in the Great Lakes East standings and took sole possession of second place, sitting one game back of the first-place Kalamazoo Growlers.

Colin Sander led the way offensively with three RBI, while four more Pit Spitters recorded multi-RBI nights.

Traverse City starting pitcher Connor Kelly logged his tied-for-team-leading third win of the summer, throwing five innings of one-run baseball while striking out four. Kelly worked around five walks and early traffic on the bases to keep Richmond's offense quiet through the first half of the game.

The Pit Spitters jumped out to an early lead, scoring the first five runs of the night. Traverse City plated two in the first inning on an Aaron Grant RBI single and a Josh Polubinski run-scoring groundout.

Two innings later, Polubinski struck again with an RBI single, followed by a Noah Gerrick two-run double down the line to stretch the lead to 5-0.

Each team traded runs in the fourth to make it 6-1 Traverse City, with Grant driving in his second run of the night on a sacrifice fly.

The Pit Spitters extended the lead to 9-1 in the sixth, powered by an Ethan Guerra two-run single and a Josh Stonehouse RBI groundout.

Then Richmond began to climb back.

The Flying Mummies plated seven unanswered runs, scoring five in the seventh and two more in the eighth. Five of those runs came against Miles Williams in the seventh, while Jack Grunkemeyer was charged with one unearned run in the eighth after Cody Freitas threw a scoreless sixth.

With the lead trimmed to 9-7 heading into the bottom of the eighth, Traverse City took control again with a five-run frame.

Four walks brought Ethan Guerra home, before Sander delivered the biggest swing of the inning with a bases-clearing triple into the right-field corner. Jacob Kucharczyk followed with a double to deep left-center field, pushing the Pit Spitters lead to 14-7.

Jake Brown took over in the top of the ninth and allowed two runs to score, but sealed the 14-9 victory.

Every Pit Spitters starter reached base at least once, as Traverse City collected nine hits. Sander and Guerra both finished with multi-hit performances, while Guerra, Grant, Polubinski, and Gerrick each drove in two runs. Sander led the group with three RBI.

Richmond outhit Traverse City 12-9, but the Flying Mummies left 13 runners on base. One of the biggest defensive plays of the night came in the top of the fourth, when Jacob Kucharczyk made a sliding run-saving catch in center field to strand the bases loaded.

The Pit Spitters (16-11) and Flying Mummies (15-12) will play the series finale Sunday at Turtle Creek Stadium, with first pitch set for 5:05 p.m.

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Northwoods League Stories from June 20, 2026


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