2 U of M Baseball Players to Join Traverse City Developmental Team
Mates,
In Traverse City there was a switch in minor league teams from the Frontier League (think 'worse than single A ball') to the Northwoods League. The Northwoods League is for college players that are going to continue on in college, but who are basically playing a solid minor league summer ball schedule. Traverse City's new team has about the worst team name of all time, but they did do one thing right, they have grabbed two U of M players to finish the summer.
The Pit Spitters (no, that's not a joke, that is their real name because TC is the 'cherry capitol of the world') picked up shortstop Riley Bertram and pitcher Joe Pace. They are set to join the team this coming week.
Bertram, a freshman from Zionsville, Indiana, came to prominence during Michigan’s run in the college playoffs. He made his first career start in the tournament regionals vs. Cincinnati, going 4-for-4 at the plate in the Wolverines’ 10-4 victory and then went 3-for-10 with three RBIs and two runs scored in the following two games against Creighton
Pace, a redshirt junior from Valley Village CA, was recently converted to a pitcher and appeared in nine games for the Wolverines this season. He had a 3.86 ERA with 14 strikeouts in 9.1 innings.
Link to article here: https://www.record-eagle.com/sports/local_sports/spitters-add-u-m-players-to-roster/article_1eded042-9aa1-11e9-a801-8b1d65bc46a8.html
So if you come north to visit, including for tomorrow's air show with the Thunderbirds, you can hit the Pit Spitters game and see some Michigan talent for all of us bandwagon baseball fans.
XM
Worst part of the name is that it was open to the public to help pick out the name and people actually thought that was a terrific choice.
Missed the Airshow. Explored Sleeping Bear. Fishing Arbutus. Caught lots. Thanks for the tip. We have lots in common, including SoCal. Hope to meet you one day. Go Blue!
imgoblue1, i have enjoyed meeting everyone of the mgobloggers that we've made plans to do so, and would be glad to add you to the list. sounds like you are north right now ('fishing arbutus'), so good luck. we'll be finishing off hay baling in the afternoon.
about 50 degrees and the sun is coming up right this minute. taught one of the kids how to net bass yesterday (no fishing rod) and he did it. we threw it back of course, but it was a laugh.
Danny Zimmerman, who redshirted this year, is playing for the Duluth Huskies in the same league. He’s a relief pitcher but has mostly played first base due to injury, and has done decently well.
pit spitters have been on a tear and are in first place. as you mentioned a month or so ago, could conceivably have a TC v. duluth championship series in the league. would be fun.
have a wonderful day in the pulpit SRJK.
Do they travel by bus? That is a long ride from TC to Duluth. No shortcuts.
the mention of the series goes back to another thread a few weeks ago when the notion of duluth playing TC came up. it could only happen if both teams made the championship. how they'd handle the transport, i have no idea. shows as a 520 mile drive, close to 10 hrs on a bus. no bueno.
For folks in New England: a couple of Michigan guys (Casey Buckley and Jack Van Remortal) are playing for the Sanford Mainers. They play in Maine, NH, Vermont, Massachusetts, and Connecticut.
Won’t be able to get Up North this summer. Really bummed. Sleeping Bear dune climb is basically my favorite place ever. Love getting to the top and looking out on everything.
I'm close to Traverse City. The sky is incredible right now.
I'm a stay at home astronaut.
User name DOES NOT check out.
The future is bright for Michigan baseball. Riley Bertram will enter the starting lineup next season.
Speaking of interesting baseball team names... I've always been a fan of the Long Beach State U Dirtbags. Still have one of their hats, somewhere.
If this produces a higher finish in the Director's Cup standings......good.
Pit Spitters reminds me of the Nebraska Bugeaters.
"Pit Spitters" isn't so bad. It's way better than say "Bears" or "Eagles" (looking right at you EMU) or something else extremely uncreative.
The SEC has three unoriginal "Tigers".
LSU, Auburn, and Missouri.
Wildcats...
Traverse City is not the cherry capital of the world. Of the Midwest, it is...washington state produces much more.
Maybe so, but from someone who has lived in both states, Michigan cherries taste much better.
XM do you live in or around TC? For some reason thought you were more middle of the state, but if you're reading the record eagle....
I'm on TC west side near silver lake, but spend a ton of time on spider lake.
yes, re: NW lower, having come south from the UP.
I don't mind the name and like the logo. I went to a Beach Bums game a few years back and we have talked about going to a PS game. I'm in Pierport south of Arcadia Bluffs so can get to the stadium without too much crazy Cherry Festival traffic.
Pit Spitters.... love it!
I don't know man, after looking at their logo the "Pit Spitters" is a name that sounds so bad its good to me. Kind of like the Philadelphia Flyers mascot. In an age where all the major sports teams have super boring names its refreshing to see something original.
Gritty. Put some respect on that name.
Pit spitters is waaaaayyyy better than the Great Lakes Loons.
Hate the name loons and hate the logo. Makes no sense for the Midland area.
The Northwoods league is second to only the Cape Cod league as far as summer collegiate wood bat leagues. My son played in Eau Claire in 2015. Great baseball!
I've taken the kids to see the beach bums a few times and they loved the bear mascots. It seems like almost any mascot that involves spitting would be instantly disqualified as a bad idea. Cherry pickers would seem like the better cherry themed nickname. I know it's more of a basketball term, but it still makes more sense to me.
agreed re: cherry pickers. and to make things even more strange, the spitters mascot is blue despite the colors and logo being predominantly red/black/green. ain't no 'blue' cherries.....
Have you reported this as a potential NCAA violation?
/s
For those of you in the Kalamazoo area, the Pit Spitters are in the same division as the Kalamazoo Growlers and Battle Creek Bombers. The games are fun to watch. The atmosphere can be excellent. Like minor league games, there is plenty of between innings entertainment. You can drink a beer and watch college level wood bat baseball. Many of these kids will eventually sign pro contracts or get drafted. It is a grueling schedule for these players... 72 games in 74 days! Gotta love the game to play! Both my boys played with the Growlers last year and my younger son is with them this year. Come on out to the ballparks if you get a chance!
Dang too bad I missed this conversation over the weekend.
I will say the schedule these kids play is BRUTAL and the experience is second to none. I had the opportunity to play for Battle Creek for a few weeks (put off a small surgery for that experience) while in college because two of their infielders that had signed on were still playing in regionals and super regionals and they needed fill ins.
The worst part was overnight bus rides when we would have games the next day. These guys are doing crazy things like 70 games in 75 days. We never did anything but take a bus. The TC and Kalamazoo teams did not exist so the shortest bus rides for us were to Madison or Green Bay and those were still 5+ hours. On days we had an away game then had a home game the following day we had to check out of our hotel by noon typically and kill a few hours before going to the stadium (7 PM first pitch) then after that game had an overnight bus ride home.
Nothing like getting home at 5-6 am, sleeping a few hours then going back to the ballpark to work out, get extra swings, treatment etc... all while taking a couple summer classes.
I wouldn't trade that experience for the world. Most of my teammates went to D1 schools (Eastern, Michigan, Tennessee, LSU, Oregon State, Harvard), some D2/Juco or NAIA guys depending on the coaching staff. I went to a smaller school so it was fun to compete with them and against other guys with similar talent, some of whom went on to sign professional contracts when their college years were over.