BATTLE CREEK — Well, that is certainly one way to snap a losing streak.
After dropping three games in a row at home to Lakeshore and Kenosha, the Traverse City Pit Spitters went on the road and took out their frustrations on the Battle Creek Battle Jacks with a 14-0 victory at MCCU Field on Sunday.
The Pit Spitters (8-5) got the blowout started early, scoring three runs in the top of the second inning and three more in the third against Battle Creek (7-5). They added one in the fifth, two in the sixth and then plated five in the eighth while taking advantage of five Battle Jacks errors.
Jayden Dentler picked up the win on the mound, tossing five innings of three-hit ball and striking out five with two walks.
The victory moves the Pit Spitters into a three-way tie for first place in the Great Lakes East Division with the Kenosha Kingfish and the Rockford Rivets.
The scoring got started in the second when Michael Tchavdarov launched a three-run homer over the right-field fence, scoring Vahn Lackey and Brett Rozman. Lackey had walked with one out, and Rozman singled to put two men on base for Tchavdarov.
In the third inning, JT Sokolove and Carter Hain opened with back-to-back singles and then moved into scoring position on an error on the Battle Creek center fielder.
Rozman singled to right to score Sokolove and Hain. He advanced to second on the throw home but was thrown out on a fielder’s choice groundout by Tchavdarov.
Ethan Guerra walked to move Tchavdarov into scoring position, and then Aaron Piasecki singled for the two-out RBI and a 6-0 lead.
Brett Denby singled with two outs in the fifth inning for a 7-0 advantage, and then Lackey homered after a Hain single to go up 9-0 in the sixth.
The comfortable lead was made even cozier in the top of the eighth as the Pit Spitters scored five runs.
Sokolove reached on an error, and then Lackey doubled to left after Hain flew out to right for the first out. Rozman was hit by a pitch to load the bases, and Tchavdarov doubled on the first pitch he saw to score two.
Guerra reached on an error to load the bases again, and the Pit Spitters’ bats didn’t have to do much work after that as Piasecki walked on five pitches for an RBI, Denby walked on four straight out of the zone to plate another run, and then Alfredo Velazquez walked on a full-count pitch to make it 14-0.
The blowout shutout win comes after the Pit Spitters were on the wrong end of that scenario against Kenosha on Saturday.
The Kingfish scored one in the top of the first and then rattled off at least one run from the fifth through the ninth innings. They tallied three in the fifth, two each in the sixth and seventh, one in the eighth and two more in the ninth for an 11-0 victory.
Jagger Neeley took the loss, going 4.2 innings and allowing four runs (three earned) on five hits with five walks and four strikeouts.
The Pit Spitters had just four hits. Denby went 2 for 3, and Brandon Chang and Velazquez each had a single.
Traverse City concludes its brief road trip with a 6:35 p.m. start against Battle Creek on Monday. The Pit Spitters then return to Turtle Creek Stadium for two against Kokomo on Tuesday and Wednesday before heading to Kenosha for two against the Kingfish on Thursday and Friday.