40 Thursday, August 15, 2024 BATTLE CREEK SHOPPER NEWS http://www.thebattlecreekshopper.com
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Sporting News
BATTLE
CREEK
WILL KOWALSKI
Sports Editor/Asst. Editor
This past spring – when the
Kellogg Community College base-
ball team played its home games at
Bailey Park’s C.O. Brown Stadium
in Battle Creek – Cody Hultink, Cam
Reichel, Aaron Piasecki and Jake
Ickes were Bruin teammates and
important parts of KCC’s successes
that culminated with the Bruins earn-
ing a berth in the NJCAA Division II
World Series in Oklahoma.
Last Saturday, the KCC sopho-
mores then enjoyed one final appear-
ance on the C.O. Brown Stadium
diamond for 2024.
Hultink and Reichel played for
the host Battle Creek Battle Jacks
while Piasecki and Ickes played for
the Traverse City Pit Spitters in a
season-ending summer collegiate
Northwoods League contest that
drew a crowd of 2,103 fans.
The final score was one-sided:
Traverse City 13, Battle Creek 0.
The loss gave B.C. a final regular-
season overall record of 32-40,
which included a second-place 19-17
mark in the Northwoods League’s
first half as a member of the NWL’s
Great Lakes East Division and a
sixth-place 13-23 record in the sec-
ond half.
Traverse City, meanwhile,
improved to 22-15 in the second half.
Four Bruins on field in Battle Jacks’ season finale
Cam Reichel, a graduate of Pennfield High, is show pitching for the Battle
Creek Battle Jacks last Saturday in B.C.’s final Northwoods League game of
the 2024 campaign. In the background, the runner at first base is Traverse
City’s Aaron Piasecki, a Kellogg CC teammate of Reichel this past spring.
(Shopper News photo by Will Kowalski)Jake Ickes, who was Kellogg
Community College’s closer on the
mound this past spring, was the
winner pitcher for Traverse City
against Battle Creek last Saturday.
(Shopper News photo by Will Kowalski)regards to the other league squads
among the 26 cities that have
Northwoods franchises, advancing to
the playoffs following the conclusion
of regular-season play on Saturday,
Aug. 10: The Wausau (WI)
Woodchucks finished first in the first
half and the Madison (WI) Mallards
were first in the second half in the
Great Lakes West; the La Crosse
(WI) Loggers were first in the first
half and the Duluth (MN) were first
in the second half in the Great Plains
East; and the Willmar (MN) Stingers
were first in the first half and the St.
Cloud (MN) Rox were first in the
second half in the Great Plains West.
That all said ... back to last
Saturday’s NWL season finale battle
between the host Battle Jacks and the
visiting Pit Spitters:- For B.C., center fielder Hultink –
a Pennfield High grad – went 0-for-3
with a hit by pitch. A late-in-the-
season signee by the Battle Jacks,
Hultink – headed to Davenport
University next season – batted .333
in 21 games played with 23 hits, 13
runs scored, five doubles, one triple
and 13 RBI. - Also for B.C., the right-handed
pitching Reichel played his only
game of the campaign with the
Battle Jacks, and was solid for three
of his seven innings of relief pitch-
ing after replacing starter Lincoln
McVicker (college Centralia/home-
town Littleton, CO) to start the sec-
ond inning. Reichel also played four
games for Battle Creek in 2021, the
last season the squad was called the
Bombers before changing its name to
the Battle Jacks. - Note: Aside from being team-
mates with KCC this past spring,
Hultink, Reichel and Reichel’s
step-brother and another Pennfield
High grad Cam Humeston (a mem-
However, that was only good enough
for second place in the standings, as
the Pit Spitters finished two games
behind the first-place Kalamazoo
Growlers (24-13) – with Kalamazoo
and the first-half divisional champ
Rockford Rivets being the only two
clubs to remain alive in the division
for postseason NWL play that began
this past Monday.
The final second-
half Great Lakes East
Division standings were:
1-Kalamazoo 24-13,
2-Traverse City 22-15,
3-Rockford 21-15,
4-Royal Oak Leprechauns
16-21, 5-Kenosha (WI)
Kingfish 15-21, 6-Battle
Creek 13-23, 7-Kokomo
(IN) Jackrabbits 11-26.
In the NWL’s other
divisions, by the way, inSee BASEBALL on 41