Royal Oak Leprechauns Still Hunting for Playoffs
Northwoods Royal Oak Leprechauns

Royal Oak Leprechauns Still Hunting for Playoffs

August 8, 2025 - Northwoods League (Northwoods)
Royal Oak Leprechauns News Release


With two crucial games left in the regular season, the Royal Oak Leprechauns are battling for their first-ever playoff spot in team history. The Leprechauns are just a 1/2 game back of the Kalamazoo Growlers, a team they've taken three of the last four games from, including last night's 12-10 win at Kalamazoo. The Growlers have to take their final two regular-season home games to keep their lead and secure their bid. That task will come against the Battle Creek Battle Jacks who lament at the bottom of the Northwoods League's Great Lakes East standings.

The Leprechauns head up Highway 31 to Turtle Creek Stadium to face the Traverse City Pit Spitters, who have already secured their top spot in the playoff race. The games on Friday and Saturday do not affect the Pit Spitters' playoff position.

The Leprechauns' playoff surge picked up steam with five wins out of their last six games and should they overtake the Growlers, will host their inaugural playoff game on Sunday, August 10th at #TheLuckyCorner - Memorial Park against Traverse City and then finish the best-of-three game series in Traverse City.

The team's final four games of the regular season are on the road with Royal Oak splitting with Kalamazoo, a 10-2 loss on Wednesday and a backs-to-the-wall Thursday night win 12-10 at Homer Stryker Field. A game that early on was all Leprechauns. After taking a first-inning 2-0 lead the Leprechauns added one more in the second, five in the third and two in the fourth but the bats and pitching cooled off and the Growlers added one in the sixth, six runs in the seventh. The second inning scoring included Jovan Gill's (Grand Valley State) single RBI scoring Ryan Tyranski (Cincinnati) and Owen Turner's (Yale) single RBI scoring Danny Cook (Pepperdine).

Aidan Schuck (Oakland) led off the second inning with a 2-1 count home run over the left field wall. The offensive explosion in the third inning started with a Tristan Crane (Eastern Michigan) single to center followed by Noah Bright's (Michigan State) single that put Crane on third. A Turner single loaded the bases. A Rhett Roeser (Wayne State) strikeout followed and then Schuck blasted a 1-0 pitch over the left field wall for a grand slam.

The Growlers changed pitchers after Preston Leon (Florida International) and Tyranski both singled. A Cook single scored Leon and a Gill flyout to right field ended the Leprechaun half with an 8-1 lead. The fourth inning's two runs came on Roeser's two-out, 2-1 count home run to left field that scored Bright, who had singled to left on an 0-2 pitch.

The Growlers clawed back picking up a run in the sixth as Leprechaun pitcher William Fockler (Alma College) hit the first two Growler batters before coaxing a fly-out to right field and a strikeout. The Growlers' Gabe Springer (Stanford) then singled for the Growlers to score Brodey Acres (Walsh University). Dylan Kints (Concordia) replaced Fockler and the Growlers grounded out (6-3) to end the inning.

In the seventh, the Leprechauns were three up and three down and the Growlers went to work on Kints as leadoff batter Micah Rienstra-Kiracofe (Kent State) was hit by pitch followed by Noah Coy's (Notre Dame) single. Acres eked out an infield hit to score Rienstra-Kiracofe, then a walk loaded the bases. The Leprechauns brought in Coy Plummer (Wayne State) for Fockler but hit the first batter to score another Growler run, then gave up a triple to right field to score three more runs. Kints took on two more batters giving up a walk and picking up a strikeout as Nick Brady (Thomas University) came on in relief of Kints. With two men on for the Growlers, a wild pitch brought in another run. Brady gave up a walk before settling down and getting Coy to fly out to left field for the final out. Three Leprechaun errors in the inning aided the Growlers' offense.

The crucial eighth inning saw Royal Oak's bats wake up, adding two more runs as Cook led off with a single, followed by Gill with a single. Crane's sacrifice bunt put both runners in scoring position, and Bright's single to center scored them both. The Growler rally in the bottom of the eighth produced two runs but neither team could generate any offense in the ninth as the Leprechauns secured a 12-10 win.

Overall, the Leprechauns scored 12 runs on 21 hits but committed four errors. The Growlers scored 10 runs on 10 hits and no errors. Javon Gill took the win as Nick Brady picked up the save. Noah Bright went 4-for-4 at the plate with two runs, two RBIs and one walk. But Aidan Schuck was the big bat of the night with two home runs in his 4-for-5 performance at the plate with two runs, five RBI's. His four hits included a double and a triple as well. Roeser was 1-for-4 on the night but that one hit was a two-run home run.

Jovan Gill worked as a DH and pitcher, going five innings on the mound, giving up four hits, one run (earned), walking only one and striking out three. A trio of Fockler, Kints and Plummer only managed four outs but gave up seven runs on four hits and three walks. The trio combined for only two strikeouts. Brady came in to close down the Growlers, pitching 2.2 innings.

With two games left in the regular season at Traverse City, the Leprechauns have to win out and get some help from Battle Creek to tag the Growlers with a loss to make the playoffs. The Leprechauns have the tie-breaker over the Growlers should it come down to that.



Northwoods League Stories from August 8, 2025


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