LA CROSSE, WI- With only 4 games remaining in the Northwoods League first half, La Crosse remained at 2.5 games for the third game in a row. Wisconsin, who was previously eliminated from first-half playoff champioship contention, played spoiler tonight. Zach Lewis (Wichita State) made his sixth start of the season against Simon Mathews (Georgetown) for the Chucks.
Both pitchers moved through the first two innings without much trouble. Wisconsin struck first with a leadoff hit who was hit in by Japan native, Yusuke Akitoshi. Lewis was able to slow the Chucks’ offense until the 6th inning. Two hits, two hit-by-pitches, and two runs brought Nolan Gromacki (Missouri) onto the mound. From there to the rest of the game, Gromacki was perfect.
In the 3.1 innings in relief, Gromacki surrendered one run on three Logger errors, but gave up zero hits. Nolan has been the kryptonite of the Woodchucks, striking out 12 batters and giving up only one earned run in his three games against Wisconsin.
The Loggers were not content with a shutout loss. Riley Adams (San Diego) was struck by a pitch. Will Savage (Columbia) moved him over with a single. A bad throw by the third baseman moved Adams to third. Chris Baker (Washington) brought Adams in on a deep sacrifice fly to put the Loggers on the board. That was it for La Crosse as they fell 4-0.
La Crosse churned out seven hits from the plate, but struggled to bring them in. Will Savage led the team with two hits. The Loggers can still make the playoffs by winning the second-half division championship or win one of two wild card positions, which are decided by the next best overall records. Wisconsin and La Crosse play a rematch tomorrow at 5:05.
