Pit Spitters Swept by Royal Oak in Doubleheader, Fall out of First Place
Northwoods Traverse City Pit Spitters

Pit Spitters Swept by Royal Oak in Doubleheader, Fall out of First Place

Published on July 17, 2026 under Northwoods League (Northwoods)
Traverse City Pit Spitters News Release


Traverse City, MI - The Traverse City Pit Spitters dropped both games of a seven-inning doubleheader against the Royal Oak Leprechauns on Friday night at Turtle Creek Stadium, falling 14-0 in the opener before surrendering a late lead in a 4-3 Game 2 defeat.

Traverse City entered the day with a half-game lead over Royal Oak in the Great Lakes East second-half standings. The Pit Spitters fell to 8-5 and now trail the first-place Leprechauns, who improved to 10-4, by 1.5 games.

Game 1: Royal Oak 14, Traverse City 0

The Pit Spitters committed five errors and issued 10 walks while allowing 12 hits in the opening game.

Royal Oak broke the contest open with a seven-run fifth inning against Josh Klug and Jake Brown.

Spencer Boynton earned the win for the Leprechauns, delivering six scoreless innings while holding Traverse City to three hits and two walks. Benjamin Green was charged with the loss for the Pit Spitters.

Cade Collins reached safely to extend his on-base streak to nine games, while JT Smith recorded a double.

Game 2: Royal Oak 4, Traverse City 3

Traverse City received six innings of one-run baseball from Mason Compton and Jack Grunkemeyer. Compton worked the opening three frames before Grunkemeyer followed with three innings of relief.

The Pit Spitters entered the sixth inning trailing 1-0 and without a hit against Royal Oak left-hander Jackson Miller.

Traverse City broke through with three runs in the sixth. Callum Early delivered a two-run, go-ahead single before Cade Collins scored on an error during the following at-bat, sending the Pit Spitters into the final inning with a 3-1 advantage.

The Leprechauns responded with a three-run rally in the seventh. Pinch-hitter Mason Barth tied the game with a two-run homer to deep left field before Luke Kosko delivered a go-ahead RBI single facing David Heefner, putting Royal Oak ahead 4-3.

Traverse City placed the tying and winning runs at second and third in the bottom half, but Kellen English retired Ethan Guerra for the final out to complete the sweep in front of 2,519 fans.

Jacob Kucharczyk, Early and Sean Martinez accounted for Traverse City's three hits in Game 2.

Royal Oak outhit the Pit Spitters 24-6 across the doubleheader and extended its winning streak to a league-best seven games.

Friday marked the final meetings of the regular season between the Great Lakes East rivals, with Royal Oak winning the season series 8-4.

The Pit Spitters will continue their homestand with games against the Kalamazoo Growlers on Saturday night and Sunday afternoon.

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