Comeback falls just short at Traverse City Pit Spitters lose 7-6 to Kalamazoo Growlers
Jul. 8—KALAMAZOO — As Baltimore Oriole great and baseball legend Frank Robinson once said, close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.
Although the Traverse City Pit Spitters were close to completing an impressive comeback against the Great Lakes East Division first-half champion Kalamazoo Growlers on the road Thursday, their effort fell a run shy in a 7-6 final.
The Spitters (19-19) didn't pick up their first hit of the evening until the fifth inning when Alec Atkinson singled to left after a Dallas Duarte walk to put two men on base with two away. But both were stranded after Cody Hultink went down swinging to end the frame with Traverse City down 3-0.
Trailing 4-0 against the Growlers (23-15), Traverse City finally broke through for some runs against Kalamazoo starter Dylan Freeman in the sixth inning and scored three times.
With one out, Jakob Marsee drew a four-pitch walk followed by a single from Camden Traficante and a free pass to Wednesday's hero Colin Summerhill to load the bases for Marshall Toole. Toole saw five pitches and drew the third walk of the inning to bring in Marsee and make it a 4-1 ballgame. Brennen Dorighi grounded to second for what could have been an inning-ending double play, but an errant throw to first after a forceout at second allowed Traficante and Summerhill to score.
The Pit Spitters put two on with two out in the seventh but left empty-handed. They kept the pressure on in the top of the eighth, however, and loaded the bases after back-to-back walks to lead off the frame and when Duarte was hit on the first pitch after Dorighi grounded into fielder's choice.
Atkinson singled to right on a 2-2 count to drive home Summerhill. Dorighi scored two pitches later on a wild pitch from Eamon Horwedel, and Ariel Garcia came up clutch with a pinch-hit single to right to bring the Spitters within one at 7-6.
But that is as close as Traverse City would get.
Christian Beal and Marsee failed to drive home the tying or go-ahead runs in the eighth, and the Spitters went down 1-2-3 in the top of the ninth to end the game.
Starter Aren Gustafson went five innings and allowed three earned runs on eight hits while striking out five and walking just one for Traverse City.
The Pit Spitters head south to Indiana for a two-game set against Kokomo beginning Friday at 6:35 p.m. Aaron Forrest (2-1, 3.76 ERA) takes the mound for Traverse City against the struggling Jackrabbits, who have lost three straight and eight of their last 10 to sit at 10-27 overall.
Traverse City then returns home to Turtle Creek Stadium on Sunday to complete the second half of a home-and-home against Kokomo. First pitch Sunday is 5:05 p.m.
