
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — Perhaps it was the 7½-hour bus ride. Or perhaps it was the task of facing a team with the best ERA in the league.
Whatever the reason, it took a while for the Madison Mallards to gain momentum. But once the league’s top-hitting offense got going, it nearly pulled off a comeback.
Madison pulled within one in the eighth inning but had the potential tying run thrown out at the plate in a 3-2 loss to the Traverse City Pit Spitters in the Northwoods League Great Lakes Division championship Wednesday night in front of 1,944 at Pit Spitters Park.
The defeat denied the Mallards an opportunity to play in Friday’s amateur baseball title game. Traverse City will host Eau Claire, a 2-0 victor over Willmar, for the championship.
Traverse City, which in its inaugural season in 2019 tied the NWL record for the most wins in a season with 52, grabbed a 1-0 lead on Michael Slaten’s first-inning single. The Pit Spitters increased the advantage to 3-0 when Riley Bertram’s single in the second inning scored two.
The scored stayed the same until the eighth inning.
EJ Ranel’s two-out single was followed by walks to Logan Michaels and Justice Bigbie to load the bases for Madison. Joe Pace relieved Luke Little and uncorked a run-scoring wild pitch while facing Austin Blazevic.
After Blazevic drew a walk to reload the bases. Jordan Stephens delivered a single up the middle, scoring Michaels to make it 3-2 but Bigbie was thrown out at the plate on a throw by center fielder Jake Wilson.
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