MUSKEGON, Mich. — Western Michigan pitcher Ethan Houghtaling is spending the summer throwing for the Muskegon Clippers.
The Zeeland East grad has enjoyed playing just 30 miles from where he grew up.
"For the summer I wanted to kind of stay close to be with my family," Houghtaling said. "We have guys from California, guys from Florida, all over, so it is kind of special for me to stay close to home and play for kind of like the hometown team. When I pitch there is probably 5 to 10 family members that try to come up to Muskegon to watch me so that is pretty fun."
He is showing promise on the hill too with a 3-1 record in six appearances, five of which have been starts.
"Coming from college to here, I needed to work on some things," Houghtaling said. "The Clippers really gave me a good opportunity to work on those things. The goal of summer ball is to go back to school ball better than you left. So going back down to Kalamazoo, I should be in pretty good shape."
Houghtaling has struck out 33 batters this summer in 30 and one third innings. He fanned 20 in the same amount of innings pitched at school in the spring.
