Battle Creek's steady offense too much for Pit Spitters in 7-4 loss
Jun. 29—BATTLE CREEK — The Battle Jacks of Battle Creek scored at least one run in each of the first six innings en route to a home victory over the Traverse City Pit Spitters.
Battle Creek (15-15) reached the .500 mark and stopped the Pit Spitters (14-16) from reaching it in a 7-4 final that saw the Battle Jacks score single runs in the first, second, third, fourth and sixth innings and two runs in the fifth to earn the win.
Billy Hancock singled home Bobby Nichols in the bottom of the first to put the Jacks ahead 1-0. But Ariel Garcia knotted the ballgame back up when he singled home Trey Truitt, who reached on an error by the right fielder in the top of the second.
A wild pitch allowed Fisher Pyatt to cross home plate in the bottom of the frame, and Battle Creek added another run on a Joey Grabanski sacrifice fly to lead 3-1 after three innings.
Sam Tackett launched a ball over the fence in center field in the top of the fourth to bring the Pit Spitters to within a run at 3-2, but the Battle Jacks answered in their half of the inning when Patrick Mills drove home Dillon Kark with a single to left.
Back-to-back RBI singles from Kark and Pyatt in the fifth put Battle Creek up by four at 6-2, and Jace Matkin made it a five-run deficit in the sixth when he tripled home Aaron Dolney.
The Pit Spitters broke through in the eighth inning to score twice when Hunter Tabb singled home Camden Traficante and Marshall Toole, but that is all they could muster. Truitt and Dallas Duarte went down swinging in the ninth, and Christian Beal hit a flyout to right to end the ballgame.
Jake Michel took the loss, falling to 0-2 with a 5.40 ERA. He went 3.1 innings and gave up four earned runs on seven hits while striking out two and walking three.
The Spitters finished their six-game road trip at 4-2. They come back to Traverse City and Turtle Creek Stadium on Wednesday for the start of a six-game homestand against Kenosha, Wausau and Rockford.
Derek Clark toes the rubber and gets the start for the Pit Spitters against the Kingfish at 6:35 p.m. Wednesday. Clark is 1-0 with a 2.55 ERA on the season.
The Kingfish have dropped five straight and are tied with the Pit Spitters for fourth place in the Great Lakes East Division at 14-16. The Kalamazoo Growlers sit in first at 18-12 while Battle Creek and Rockford are tied for second at 15-15.
