By Murray Gleffe
Correspondent
ASHWAUBENON—Nick Kreutzer hit a grand slam and Chris Williams a two and three run homer to lead the Green Bay Booyah to a 17-5 victory over the Kalamazoo Growlers in a game played July 9 at Capital Credit Union Park.
“I just wanted to hit the ball as hard as I could,” said Kreutzer on the grand slam. “It came off hot and I was glad we did some damage tonight.”
Booyah's No. 41 Nick Kreutzer playing first base. Kreutzer connected on a grand-slam in the bottom of the fifth to lead Green Bay to a 17-5 victory. Photo by Murray GleffeJacob Paulishak got the win for Green Bay going 2 1/3 innings giving up three hits and one run.
In addition to the two home runs, Williams had six RBI’s for the game.
Drew Schultz was the losing pitcher giving up five hits and runs in just four innings.
The Booyah got off to a flying start against the Growlers who entered the contest on a six-game winning streak.
In the first, with one out, Blaise Maris singled to center and Joe Mason singled to right setting up the first of two heroics for Williams.
With Schultz struggling early to find the strike zone, Williams connected on a low slider that went 320 feet over the right field wall.
His three-run homer brought home Maris and Mason and gave Green Bay an early 3-0 lead.
In the bottom of the second, Mike Ruggiero hit a sacrifice fly to score a run and Mike Ferri used smart base running to generate another and put the Booyah up 5-0.
By the top of the fifth, Kalamazoo had chipped away at Green Bay’s lead and after Gabe Rivera connected on a single, scoring Zack Gelof, the Booyah’s lead had been trimmed to a single run at 5-4.
If not for Jacob Buchberger’s play at third base, the Growlers might have taken the lead. On three separate occasions he made great defensive plays to stop a run from scoring.
“Chris (Williams) prepares so hard before games that I’m glad he had the offensive explosion that he did,” said Kreutzer. “Jacob (Buchberger) has been clutch for us all season. If a ball is hit at him, he can make a play from anywhere.”
In the bottom of the fifth, Green Bay opened the game up with a huge inning.
With Maris, Brady West and Mason all on base, Williams was walked sending a run in to give Green Bay a 6-4 lead.
Kreutzer stepped into the batter’s box and with a 1-0 count laced a shot over the center field scoreboard that was gone from the moment it connected with wood.
The grand slam gave the Booyah a 10-4 lead.
An inning later, Williams connected on a two-run shot to give him his second of the evening and push Green Bay’s lead to eight runs.
“I think we proved tonight that we can put up a lot of runs,” added Kreutzer. “If Traverse City can get on a run like they have been, so can we.”
Box Score:
Kalamazoo: 000 311 000—5 9 1
Green Bay: 320 062 04x—17 15 1
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