Pit Spitters blank Growlers 2-0 to complete Turtle Creek Stadium sweep

Fireworks Friday at Turtle Creek Stadium ended with the kind of clean, fast win that can carry a local club into the rest of a homestand. The Traverse City Pit Spitters beat the Kalamazoo Growlers 2-0 on Friday, June 5, 2026, finishing a two-game home sweep and pulling back to 6-6 on the season.

The game was decided by pitching from start to finish. Gannon Grundman, making his second start of the summer, set the tone by striking out four of the first six hitters he faced and retiring the first 13 Kalamazoo batters in order. He worked five innings on 70 pitches, allowed one hit and one walk, and struck out seven to improve to 1-1.

Bryce Suitor took over and stretched the shutout with three hitless innings of his own, striking out six more Growlers. Jake Brown then handled the ninth, entering with the tying run at the plate and finishing off the save as Traverse City completed a two-hit shutout. The Pit Spitters’ 14 strikeouts were one shy of their season high and four short of the franchise record of 18, a strong sign of how dominant the staff was in a game that lasted just 2 hours and 17 minutes, the club’s fastest of the season through 12 games.

Traverse City did just enough offensively to support the arms. Alfredo Velazquez tripled in the fifth inning and scored on an Ethan Guerra RBI hit to open the scoring. Later, Velazquez’s groundout brought home JT Smith for the insurance run that let Brown work the ninth with a little more breathing room.

The result mattered beyond one summer-night box score. Kalamazoo entered the game at 8-5, and the Pit Spitters had already edged the Growlers 11-10 on Thursday, June 4, in the first game of the home set. That gave Traverse City a quick back-to-back sweep at Turtle Creek Stadium, the same place the club has turned into a Friday-night draw with its Fireworks Fridays promotion and six scheduled fireworks shows on the 2026 calendar.

For Grand Traverse County fans, it was the kind of win that keeps Turtle Creek Stadium central to the local summer rhythm. Traverse City opened its eighth season on the road against Kalamazoo on May 25 and began its home slate May 27 against Rockford, but this sweep felt like the first crisp statement of the homestand: the Pit Spitters can win with power, and they can win with pitching depth.