KALAMAZOO, MI - From the empty bleacher seats to masked players keeping their distance in the dugout, Wednesdays opening day for the Kalamazoo Growlers 2020 season had an unfamiliar atmosphere at Homer Stryker Field.

What was familiar -- the snap of a fastball into the catcher's mitt and the crack of the bat -- were things the 100 fans in attendance had been clamoring for since the coronavirus COVID-19 put a halt on the sports world in mid-March.

"It feels fantastic," said Mike Woodworth, who was attending his second Growlers' game. "I've been waiting for it for what seems like three months now to be able to go out and see a live sporting event."

With less than 3 percent of Homer Stryker's 4,000 seats filled, the stadium experience was strange, but not completely unpleasant for Kalamazoo native Bill Ferguson, who was taking in the game from behind the backstop in the Dugout Club.

"Frankly, it's a little odd to be out here with so few people, but man, it's almost like a personal performance," he said.

For their loyal fans, the Growlers delivered a 7-2 win over the first-year Kalamazoo Mac Daddies, who were formed when the Northwoods League decided to open its college summer baseball season with a few teams clustered around different markets.

That creativity gave the league's players a chance to get back out on the diamond after missing the bulk of their 2020 collegiate campaigns, and it was a move much appreciated by DeWitt, Mich., native Eric Nordmann, whose son, Trey, made his Growlers' debut.

"It's a great experience not for just myself, but also the kids and all the parents involved because it's been such a heartbreaking thing when you know your kid works so hard -- all of them do -- and the parents work hard at getting their kids to this level of baseball, and to have it taken away so quickly, it's heartbreaking," Nordmann said. "Now getting to come back out here in Kalamazoo, where these people put together a great facility and a show for these kids, it's great and hopefully it just takes off."

Originally scheduled to start their season on May 26, opening day was five weeks in the making for the Growlers, and fourth-year field manager Cody Piechocki said it was hard for him to fathom the season was actually happening until Wednesday morning.

"I don't think I got excited until this morning because it just didn't feel real," he said. "I don't think it sank in until I got in my truck to come the ballpark, and then those opening-day feelings hit, and that first pitch happened, and it's just a great feeling."

The Growlers proved ready for action from their first at-bat, when Western Michigan star Blake Dunn drove leadoff home run to the opposite field to give his team a 1-0 lead, but the Mac Daddies rallied for two runs in the second thanks to a double from Central Michigan's Garrett Navarra and single from fellow Chippewa and former Jenison star Kyle Nott.

The Growlers tied it at 2 in the fifth inning off an RBI single from Richland Gull Lake grad and current Ball State infielder Trent Quartermaine, and they took a 3-2 lead in the sixth thanks to a single from Stanford University freshman Brett Barrera, before putting the game away with four runs in the eighth inning.

Kalamazoo Hackett grad and Trine University pitcher Adam Wheaton got the start in his home town and struck out two, while allowing two runs and three hits in two innings.

Gull Lake grad and current Grand Valley State pitcher Nate Wargolet relieved him, and was one of seven hurlers to throw a shutout inning for the Growlers.

Social distancing protocols made a proper postgame celebration impossible, but the Growlers players had fun with it, as they gave each other air fives to avoid touching hands.

It's another example of how baseball looks different in the time of COVID-19, but Piechocki said he's happy with how his team, and the franchise in general, has adjusted.

"I thought our front office and the league, we did a lot of meetings with our training staff from Bronson (Hospital), and I think we did about four hours of meetings on what the differences were going to be," he said. "You still have to fight athletes from wanting to be next to each other, but our athletes did a really nice job tonight of following the protocols, so I thought overall I was really pleased with that."

The Growlers return to action at Homer Stryker Field on Thursday for a 6:35 p.m. matchup with the Battle Creek Bombers.

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