Pit Spitters Close Division Gap with Win over Jackrabbits
July 31, 2021 - Northwoods League (Northwoods)
Traverse City Pit Spitters News Release
Traverse City, MI - The Traverse City Pit Spitters battled the elements on Saturday, playing through rain, lightning and some weird plays to best the Kokomo Jackrabbits 6-0.
The win marks the sixth shutout victory in the month of July and the fourth in the last 16 days.
Rylan Tinsley pitched his best game of the season going five scoreless. He only struck out two batters but produced soft contact on swings. He also got a lot of help from his defense, getting three double plays in five innings.
The Jackrabbits loaded the bases in the first, but Tinsley got a flyout to right followed by a baserunning mistake to turn double play number one. A ground ball double play ended the second for a 1-2-3 frame. The third double play came in the fifth inning and was the biggest help all night. With runners on first and third and nobody out, Tinsley got a strikeout. The runner on first tried to steal and was initially called safe while the runner from third scored, but the umpires ruled batter's interference. The batter and runner were out, and the runner that scored had to go back. Tinsley got a ground out to the next batter to end the inning.
The Pit Spitters snapped out of a bad offensive series against Kenosha right away with a leadoff single in the first by Zeb Roos. He stole second and third, then scoring on Tito Flores' sac fly. In the fourth, Mario Camilletti singled to lead off the inning. After a sacrifice bunt, he scored on Trey Yunger's RBI groundout.
The sixth inning was a wild inning offensively for the Pit Spitters. It started with the second leadoff hit of the night for Roos, a double down the left field line. After Flores walked, Roos stole third for his third stolen base. Michael Stygles put down a perfect squeeze bunt to score Roos, and he beat the throw to first for an infield RBI hit. Yunger then hit a ground-rule double to right field that scored Flores. The next batter Miguel Useche put down a squeeze bunt of his own, scoring Stygles. Useche reached first because nobody covered the bag, giving the Pit Spitters a pair of RBI bunt singles.
Flores struck for his second RBI with a single in the seventh, putting Traverse City on top 6-0. The bullpen combined for four scoreless innings to win by that score.
Tito Flores and Miguel Useche are both riding on-base streaks of 20+ games. Flores' streak is 22, one game ahead of Useche at 21.
Up Next
The final regular season home game between Traverse City and Kokomo starts tomorrow at 5:05 ET. Jeremy Neff (4-2, 2.09) will make his final start before heading back to Richmond. For tickets for all 2021 home games, call 231-943-0100 or visit www.pitspitters.com.
Northwoods League Stories from July 31, 2021
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- Mallards Fall in Shootout against Booyah - Madison Mallards
- Woodchucks Falter Early in Loss - Wausau Woodchucks
- Rivets Score Four in the 9th to Stun BombersÃâà- Rockford Rivets
- Kingfish Show Resilience: Beat Growlers - Kenosha Kingfish
- Booyah End Skid - Green Bay Rockers
- Pit Spitters Close Division Gap with Win over Jackrabbits - Traverse City Pit Spitters
- Honkers Can't Get Bats Going in Loss to St. Cloud - Rochester Honkers
- Bombers Lose in the Ninth off Four Runs - Battle Creek Battle Jacks
- Rox Pitching Shines against Honkers in Fifth Straight Win - St. Cloud Rox
- Booyah Welcome Ducks - Green Bay Rockers
- Mallards Head to Ashwaubenon for Weekend Set with Booyah - Madison Mallards
- Kingfish Shutout the Pit Spitters in Series Finale - Kenosha Kingfish
- Kingfish Drop Third Straight Game to the Pit Spitters - Kenosha Kingfish
- Kingfish Drop Series Finale to Pit Spitters - Kenosha Kingfish
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