TRAVERSE CITY – The Traverse City Pit Spitters suffered a tough 4-3 loss to the Battle Creek Battle Jacks in the 2022 home opener at Turtle Creek Stadium on Friday night.
The Pit Spitters stayed right with Battle Creek through the entire game, receiving big hits from Evan Orzech and Jake Smallwood who each recorded solo homeruns on the night.
These two teams have played three times, all one run games. Traverse City won the first matchup 8-7 and Battle Creek won the second 10-9.
The Battle Jacks scored in the first, but Alec Atkinson tied the game with an RBI single in the second. Atkinson finished with a multi-hit game.
After an error gave Battle Creek a 2-1 lead, the deep ball came into play. Evan Orzech launched the first Pit Spitter home run this season in the sixth, a solo shot to right field.
Leading off the seventh, Jake Smallwood matched with a solo home run of his own, to an identical part of the right field lawn.
Trailing by one in the eighth, Battle Creek put runners on second and third with just one out.
After a big strikeout, Mitch White needed one more to strand the runners. The next batter Robbie Merced hit a deep shot off the left field wall to score two and take the lead.
Traverse City falls to 1-4 overall on the year. The Pit Spitters are next set to face the Battle Jacks for game two of the home series on Saturday at 7:05 p.m.
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