TRAVERSE CITY — An early 3-1 lead slowly dissolved as the Traverse City Pit Spitters dropped a 6-4 decision to the Rockford Rivets.
in Monday’s Northwoods League baseball game in front of 1,497 fans at Turtle Creek Stadium in Traverse City.
Royal Oak (15-9 second half, 36-23 overall) pulled within a half game of TC (15-8) in the Great Lakes East standings with a 7-3 win over first-half champ Kenosha, which is a full game back in the second-half standings.
Traverse City and Royal Oak don’t play each the rest of the regular season, but the Kingfish come to TC for games Thursday and Friday.
Traverse City generated only five hits and three walks. Hits came from Jacob Kucharczyk, Zach Kucharczyk, Ethan Guerra, Sean Martinez and Cody Freitas. Guerra and Martinez also walked.
Coby Neville had three hits for the Rivets, while Miguel Cantu, Jackson Forbes and Keith Eusebio each collected two. Gus Allred scattered five hits over seven innings, giving up three earned runs. Allred’s younger brother Hank earned the save with two hitless innings.
Caleb Kidd surrendered two runs in 4.1 innings to start the game, with Jake Ickes coming on for 4.0 frames and two runs as well. Noah Reeves finished out the ninth without a run crossing home.
The Spitters visit the Lakeshore Chinooks (18-7) for two games Tuesday and Wednesday in a battle of division leaders. The Chinooks lead the Great Lakes West by two games over Wausau.