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Traverse City Pit Spitters

Traverse City Pit Spitters
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Logo
Information
LeagueNorthwoods League (Great Lakes East (2019–)
LocationChums Corner, Michigan
BallparkTurtle Creek Stadium
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)
ManagerTodd Reid
Websitenorthwoodsleague.com/traverse-city-pit-spitters/

The Traverse City Pit Spitters are a baseball team in the Northwoods League, a collegiate summer baseball league, and 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 Chums Corner, Michigan. The team began play at Turtle Creek Stadium in 2019 after the park's former tenant, 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 and 1914.[1] 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.[2]

On October 25, 2018, the team named Josh Rebandt as their first field manager.[3] A name-the-team contest was held until December 14, with six finalists: Black Pearls, Dogmen, Dune Bears, Pit Spitters, Tree Shakers and Sasquatch.[4] On January 29, 2019, the Pit Spitters name and logos were officially announced [5][6] with the name reflecting the amateur sport of cherry pit spitting, which is played during the annual National Cherry Festival in Traverse City.[7]

2019 inaugural season

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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.[8] 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 off the bat of Traverse City's Andrew Morrow (Michigan State) with two outs allowed catcher Adam Proctor (Michigan State) to score and gave Traverse City a 3–2 victory, giving the Pit Spitters the Northwoods League title in their first season.[9][10]

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).[11] Manager Josh Rebrandt was named Northwoods League Manager of the Year.[12]

Traverse City Pit Spitters home game, June 2019

2021 championship season

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The Pit Spitters won their second Northwoods League championship in 2021.[13] 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.[14]

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, and closer John Beuckelaere (Madonna University) securing the lead in the bottom of the inning for the series win.[15]

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.[16] 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.[13][17]

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).[18]

Notable MLB alumni

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Five former Pit Spitters have reached the Major Leagues, with Luke Little becoming the first to make his MLB debut on September 6, 2023, pitching in relief for the Chicago Cubs.[19]

Name MLB Teams Played For Years with Pit Spitters MLB Debut
Luke Little Chicago Cubs 2019 September 6, 2023
Spencer Schwellenbach Atlanta Braves 2020 April 29, 2024
Chad Patrick Milwaukee Brewers 2019–2020 March 29, 2025
Andrew Hoffmann Kansas City Royals, Arizona Diamondbacks 2019–2020 May 30, 2025
Jakob Marsee Miami Marlins 2022 August 1, 2025

References

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  1. ^ "A "Brief" History of TC Baseball".
  2. ^ Buczek, Joe (2018-09-26). "Whitecaps Group Purchases Wuerfel Park, Plans Northwoods League Franchise". MISportsNow.com. Retrieved 2019-01-29.
  3. ^ "Josh Rebandt Named First Manager of Traverse City Baseball". 2018-10-25. Retrieved 2019-01-29.
  4. ^ "Team Name Ranking". 2018-12-04. Retrieved 2019-01-29.
  5. ^ "Introducing the Traverse City Pit Spitters!". PitSpitters.com. 2019-01-29. Retrieved 2019-01-29.
  6. ^ Herringa, Karie (2019-01-29). "Traverse City Baseball Announces New Team Name". MISportsNow.com. Retrieved 2019-01-29.
  7. ^ "Adult Cherry Pit Spit Contest". www.cherryfestival.org.
  8. ^ Sommers, Brett A. (28 May 2019). "Strong opening day crowd drives Pit Spitters to franchise's 1st win". Traverse City Record-Eagle. Retrieved 2020-07-20.
  9. ^ "Playoffs 2019". Traverse City Pit Spitters. Retrieved 2020-07-10.
  10. ^ Sommers, Brett A. (16 August 2019). "Pit Spitters crowned NWL champs". Traverse City Record-Eagle. Retrieved 2021-07-08.
  11. ^ "Traverse City Pit Spitters – Northwoods League – team stats". Pointstreak Sports Technologies. Retrieved 2021-07-08.
  12. ^ "Coaching Staff". Traverse City Pit Spitters.
  13. ^ a b Rosenthal, Andrew (21 August 2021). "Schuelke's gem leads Spitters to second NWL crown". Traverse City Record-Eagle.
  14. ^ "Scorebook – Standings". Northwoods League.
  15. ^ "Pit Spitters Win 2021 Northwoods League Championship". 21 August 2021.
  16. ^ Cook, James (19 August 2021). "Just Ducky: Pit Spitters beat Mallards for title game berth". Traverse City Record-Eagle.
  17. ^ "2021 Playoffs". Traverse City Pit Spitters. July 19, 2021.
  18. ^ "Scorebook – Stats". Traverse City Pit Spitters.
  19. ^ Bomberg, Matt (2023-09-07). "Former Traverse City Pit Spitter Luke Little Debuts with the Cubs". Northwoods League. Retrieved 2024-05-31.
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