Traverse City Pit Spitters

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Traverse City Pit Spitters
TCPitSpitters.png
Information
LeagueNorthwoods League (Great Lakes East (2019–)
LocationTraverse City, Michigan
BallparkTurtle Creek Stadium
Year founded2018
Nickname(s)The Spitters
League championships2 (2019, 2021)
Division championships2 (2019, 2021)
ColorsCherry Red, Leaf Green, Black, White
       
OwnershipTC Baseball, LLC (Joe Chamberlin, CEO)
ManagerJosh Rebandt
Websitenorthwoodsleague.com/traverse-city-pit-spitters/

The Traverse City Pit Spitters are a baseball team in the Northwoods League, a collegiate summer baseball league, which began play in the 2019 season. Based out of Traverse City, Michigan, the Pit Spitters play their home games at Turtle Creek Stadium in nearby Blair Township. The team began play at Turtle Creek Stadium in 2019 after the park's former tennant, the Traverse City Beach Bums of the Frontier League, ceased operations at the end of the 2018 season.

Traverse City has a baseball history, beginning with the Traverse City Hustlers, a semi-professional team in the 1890s. The city had a minor league team, the Traverse City Resorters of the Class D West Michigan League and Michigan State League between 1910 - 1914.[1][2][3] Baseball then returned to Traverse City in 2006 with the Traverse City Beach Bums of the independent Frontier League, but on September 26, 2018, it was announced that Wuerfel Park had been purchased by a new investment group led by the owners of the West Michigan Whitecaps (Class A Midwest League affiliate of MLB's Detroit Tigers), with the park's previous team, the Beach Bums, ceasing operations. The new ownership group announced plans to launch a new franchise in the Northwoods League for the 2019 season.[4]

On October 25, the team named Josh Rebandt as their first field manager.[5] A name-the-team contest was held until December 14, with five finalists: Black Pearls, Dogmen, Dune Bears, Pit Spitters, Tree Shakers and Sasquatch.[6]

On January 29, the Pit Spitters name and logos were officially announced.[7][8]

2019 inaugural season[]

May 28, 2019, served as the opening day for the Pit Spitters as they defeated the Green Bay Booyah 2–1 before 2,274 fans.[9] The Pit Spitters advanced to the playoffs with an overall record of 52–20 (.722), winning both halves of the season. In the playoffs, the Pit Spitters first defeated the Kalamazoo Growlers 2-0 (8-1, 5-4) in a best-of-three series and then the Madison Mallards 3–2 to advance to the Northwoods League championship game.

The championship game was played at Pit Spitters Park in front of 4,636 fans as Traverse City had the better overall record. The Spitters trailed the Eau Claire Express 2-1 heading to the bottom of the ninth, but two Express errors, including a misplayed bunt by Traverse City's Andrew Morrow (Michigan State) with two outs that allowed catcher Adam Proctor (Michigan State) to score, gave Traverse City a 3–2 victory in the 2019 championship game, taking the Northwoods League title in their first season.[10][11] The 2019 Spitters were led by 1B Morrow (.263 BA, 6 HR, 58 RBI), Mario Camilletti (Central Michigan) (.297 BA, 29 RBI), OF Jake Wilson (Bowling Green) (.280 BA, 4 HR, 45 RBI), and pitchers Andrew Hoffman (Oakland University) (8–0, 1.08 ERA) and Joe Pace (Michigan) (0–1, 6 saves, 0.50 ERA).[12] Manager Josh Rebrandt was named Northwoods League Manager of the Year.[13]

Traverse City Pit Spitters home game, June 2019

2020 pod season[]

On June 25, 2020, following decreasing regulations for the COVID-19 pandemic, the Northwoods League approved the creation of two temporary teams to play during the 2020 season: the Northern Michigan Dune Bears and the Great Lakes Resorters.[14] The three teams would be the only ones to play in the Michigan North pod at Turtle Creek Stadium for the season until the playoffs in September.[15] On July 5 of the same year, the season was put on pause due a number of players testing positive for the virus.[16] Play was supposed to resume on July 10, but was pushed further back to July 19.[17] Play resumed that day, but the Dune Bears team had been temporarily dissolved (with the possibility of returning later in the season[18]), leaving the rest of the 2020 season to be played between the Pit Spitters and Resorters.[19]

Traverse City would advance from the Michigan North Pod to the Michigan pod championship game, losing to the Kalamazoo Mac Daddies, another created team for the unique pandemic season, from the Michigan South pod 4-1 at Turtle Creek Stadium.[20] 1B Chris Monroe (Illinois-Springfield) (.348 BA, 2 HR, 28 RBI), Mario Camilletti (Central Michigan) (.348 BA, 17 RBI), and All Northwoods League selections SS Spencer Schwellenbach (Nebraska) (.356 BA, 17 RBI, 12 SB) and pitcher Chad Patrick (Purdue University Northwest) (2-1, 3 IP, 1.03 ERA) led the Pit Spitters during the 2020 season.[21][22]

2021 season[]

The Pit Spitters won their second Northwoods League championship in 2021.[23] The team finished first in the Great Lakes East division in the first half with a record of 21-15 (.583), edging the Kenosha Kingfish by 1 game, guaranteeing a place in the playoffs. Traverse City would finish second in the 2nd half, 21-14 (.600), 3.5 games behind the Kokomo Jackrabbits.[24]

Kokomo had home-field advantage for the opening best-of-three series with the better overall record, but Traverse City took the series 2-1 (9-2, 0-3, 9-6), scoring 3 runs in the 9th inning of the deciding game in Kokomo to take the series, with SS Christian Faust (Grand Valley State) singling in DH Michael Styges (Oakland University) to break the deadlock in the top of the 9th inning, with closer John Beuckelaere (Madonna University) securing the lead in the bottom of the inning for the series win.[25]

Traverse City then defeated the Madison Mallards 6-2 at home in a single game elimination behind a complete-game pitching performance by Joe Horoszko (Wittenberg University), advancing to the Northwoods League championship game.[26] The Spitters faced the St. Cloud Rox on the road, winning the championship 9-3 with the strong pitching of Northwoods League Pitcher of the Year Cam Schuelke (Florida Gulf Coast University) and a home-run from Mario Camilletti (Central Michigan) making the difference.[23][27]

The team was led on the season by 2B Camilletti (.312 BA, 34 RBI, 14 SB), OF Tito Flores (Michigan) (.295 BA, 41 RBI, 13 SB), and Northwoods League all-stars 1B Chris Monroe (Illinois-Springfield) (.303 BA, 7 HR, 59 RBI) and pitcher Schuelke (4-0, 0.68 ERA).[22]

Pit Spitters taken in MLB draft[]

Traverse City Pit Spitters in MLB Draft
Year Player (Position) College Drafting Team Round
2019 Chase Wheatcroft (P) [28] California State University, Stanislaus Chicago Cubs 37th round
2020 Luke Little (P) [29] San Jacinto College Oakland Athletics 4th round
2021 Spencer Schwellenbach (P, SS) [30] University of Nebraska-Lincoln Atlanta Braves 2nd round
2021 Chad Patrick (P) [31] Purdue University Northwest Arizona Diamondbacks 4th round
2021 Andrew Hoffmann (P) [32] University of Illinois Atlanta Braves 12th round

Mascot[]

The mascot of the Traverse City Pit Spitters is Monty, a "blue furry creature" said to have grown up on a Montmorency cherry orchard near Traverse City.[33][34]

References[]

  1. ^ "A "Brief" History of TC Baseball".
  2. ^ "Traverse City Hustlers - BR Bullpen".
  3. ^ "Traverse City Resorters - BR Bullpen".
  4. ^ Buczek, Joe (2018-09-26). "Whitecaps Group Purchases Wuerfel Park, Plans Northwoods League Franchise". MISportsNow.com. Retrieved 2019-01-29.
  5. ^ "Josh Rebandt Named First Manager of Traverse City Baseball". 2018-10-25. Retrieved 2019-01-29.
  6. ^ "Team Name Ranking". 2018-12-04. Retrieved 2019-01-29.
  7. ^ "Introducing the Traverse City Pit Spitters!". PitSpitters.com. 2019-01-29. Retrieved 2019-01-29.
  8. ^ Herringa, Karie (2019-01-29). "Traverse City Baseball Announces New Team Name". MISportsNow.com. Retrieved 2019-01-29.
  9. ^ bsommers@record-eagle.com, BRETT A. SOMMERS. "Strong opening day crowd drives Pit Spitters to franchise's 1st win". Traverse City Record-Eagle. Retrieved 2020-07-20.
  10. ^ "Playoffs 2019". Traverse City Pit Spitters. Retrieved 2020-07-10.
  11. ^ bsommers@record-eagle.com, Brett A. Sommers. "Pit Spitters crowned NWL champs". Traverse City Record-Eagle. Retrieved 2021-07-08.
  12. ^ "Traverse City Pit Spitters - Northwoods League - team stats". Pointstreak Sports Technologies. Retrieved 2021-07-08.
  13. ^ "Coaching Staff".
  14. ^ "Traverse City Pit Spitters to begin play July 1". mlive. 2020-06-15. Retrieved 2020-07-10.
  15. ^ "Traverse City Schedule 2020" (PDF). Traverse City Pit Spitters. Retrieved 2020-07-10.
  16. ^ "Pit Spitters Pause Baseball After Players Test Positive For Coronavirus". The Ticker | Traverse City News & Events. Retrieved 2020-07-10.
  17. ^ "Baseball Pause Continues". Traverse City Pit Spitters. 2020-07-05. Retrieved 2020-07-10.
  18. ^ "Baseball is BACK! Season Resumes July 19th". Traverse City Pit Spitters. 2020-07-13. Retrieved 2020-07-20.
  19. ^ "Traverse City Schedule 2020 (July 19)" (PDF). Traverse City Pit Spitters.
  20. ^ "Pit Spitters fall to Mac Daddies". Traverse City Pit Spitters. September 6, 2020.
  21. ^ "Northwoods League Announces 2020 Postseason All-Star Team". Northwoods League. September 8, 2020.
  22. ^ a b "Scorebook - Stats". Traverse City Pit Spitters.
  23. ^ a b arosenthal@record-eagle.com, Andrew Rosenthal. "Schuelke's gem leads Spitters to second NWL crown". Traverse City Record-Eagle.
  24. ^ "Scorebook - Standings". Northwoods League.
  25. ^ "Pit Spitters Win 2021 Northwoods League Championship". 21 August 2021.
  26. ^ jcook@record-eagle.com, James Cook. "Just Ducky: Pit Spitters beat Mallards for title game berth". Traverse City Record-Eagle.
  27. ^ "2021 Playoffs". Traverse City Pit Spitters. July 19, 2021.
  28. ^ "Chase Wheatcroft Amateur, College & Minor Leagues Statistics & History".
  29. ^ "Luke Little Amateur & Minor Leagues Statistics & History".
  30. ^ "Spencer Schwellenbach College & Amateur Leagues Statistics & History".
  31. ^ "Chad Patrick College, Amateur & Minor Leagues Statistics & History".
  32. ^ "Andrew Hoffmann Amateur, College & Minor Leagues Statistics & History".
  33. ^ "Meet Monty". Traverse City Pit Spitters. Retrieved 2020-07-10.
  34. ^ "Traverse City's Newest – And Bluest – Mascot". The Ticker | Traverse City News & Events. Retrieved 2020-07-10.

External links[]

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