BATTLE CREEK — The Traverse City Pit Spitters will return to town with smiles on their faces after pulling off the 9-5 comeback road win against the Battle Creek Battle Jacks on Tuesday.
“It’s obviously always great to get the first one out of the way,” Pit Spitters field manager Josh Rebandt said. “It just kind of clears the air and starts to create some more buy-in from the players when it comes to what we’re trying to get across.”
The Pit Spitters (1-1) found themselves in an early 4-1 hole after the Battle Jacks (1-1) scored one in the first and three in the third. The Spitters followed the Jacks’ pattern and plated five in the fifth to take the lead for good.
Michael Tchavdarov led off the fifth with a single and then scored two batters later on a Mark Kattula base hit to right. Brody Capps, who finished the day a perfect 5 for 5, singled after Kattula stole second base.
Corey Berry took a 3-1 pitch up the middle for another single that scored Kattula and brought the Spitters within one at 4-3. Brandon Chang singled in Capps to tie the game 4-4, and Trent Reed walked to load the bases for Mike Long.
Long got down 0-2 early, but he battled back with four foul balls to stay alive before singling to right to drive in the go-ahead and game-winning runs.
Long’s clutch hit came after he’d made a couple of errors earlier in the game at first base.
“To be able to come back, stay locked in and have a great, long at-bat was awesome to see,” Rebandt said. “Just to be able to handle some failure is always really good. It’s easy to go into your shell and not perform the rest of the day, but what (Long) did was pretty cool.”
Traverse City added one in the seventh on a Chang RBI groundout and two more in the eighth inning on a Capps two-run single to secure the win.
“I was super proud of the way we swung the bat,” Rebandt said. “Our approaches today were pretty good top to bottom.”
Dylan Krause earned the win for the Pit Spitters, going five innings and allowing four runs on three hits with four walks and three strikeouts.
Rebandt said coming home after a win will certainly help after the Pit Spitters suffered a loss on Opening Day for the first time in franchise history Monday.
“If we’re going to split a series on the road, it’s always nice to win the second one,” he said. “The grass is always a bit greener on that ride home.”
Carson Fisher gets the starting nod for the Pit Spitters on Wednesday. First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m. at Turtle Creek Stadium.
“The home opener is always a fun one,” Rebandt said. “Playing at home, in general, is always awesome, but the home opener has a little bit of extra to it knowing the community is ready to support us again.”
NEWS & NOTES
Outside of the Northwoods League season, former Pit Spitter Spencer Schwellenbach is expected to make his MLB debut as Atlanta’s starting pitcher against the Washington Nationals on Wednesday.
“It’s one of those things that he’ll never forget,” Rebandt said. “I think he has a really good chance to have a great career ahead of him.”
The 23-year-old righthander and Braves No. 3 prospect is 4-1 with a 1.80 ERA and 51 strikeouts in 45 innings this season.
Schwellenbach was the Braves’ second-round pick in the 2021 MLB Draft out of the University of Nebraska. He was part of the Pit Spitters during the 2020 season that was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Arm issues kept him off the mound, but Schwellenbach’s talents were used at shortstop.
“We only had him for about six weeks during that COVID season,” Rebandt said. “Because it was just a screwy year, we never even got to see him on the mound. He was a guy I really wanted to use, but we were never in a spot where we felt comfortable.”