On Friday, the Lakeshore Chinooks and Mankato MoonDogs met in game two of the Northwoods League Summer Collegiate World Series. The Chinooks came away with their first league championship by defeating the MoonDogs 3-0.
All-Star Joe Pavlovich (UW-Oshkosh) started the game for Lakeshore. In six strong innings, he gave up no runs on four hits. The right-hander fanned seven batters and issued two walks.
“He (Pavlovich) has had some short outings recently, but he’s a confident kid,” Pitching Coach Mark Moriarty said. “These kids have put in a lot of work…everybody was a team from top to bottom, we gelled well together. The talent was shown throughout the season.”
For his performance, he was named the Northwoods League Pitcher of the Night. It was the third time he was awarded the honor this season.
Center fielder Luke Meeteer (UW-Milwaukee) led off the third with a solo homer. With two outs, Jake Noll (Florida Gulf Coast) singled to right-center field. He stole second base and scored on an RBI single by Brett Siddall (Canisius). The Chinooks led 2-0.
Meeteer was also named the Northwoods League Player of the Night for his home run.
“It was only my third home run of the year, so it was a great feeling,” Meeteer said.
Lakeshore scored one more run in the seventh. Second-year Chinooks shortstop Sawyer Polen (Kent State) hit a double to right-center field off reliever James McMahon. He came home on Jake Noll’s second single of the contest.
Southpaw Jake Tuttle (UW-Milwaukee) tossed three, one-hit innings in relief of Pavlovich. He struck out four and earned the save.
Cord Cockrell (6-5) took the loss for Mankato in five and one-third innings of work. The righty surrendered two runs off five hits.
The Lakeshore Chinooks are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. Playing its 21st season of summer collegiate baseball, the Northwoods League is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 18 teams, drawing significantly more fans, in a friendly ballpark experience, than any league of its kind. A valuable training ground for coaches, umpires and front office staff, more than 115 Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (DET) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (CWS), Jordan Zimmermann (WAS), Curtis Granderson (NYM), Allen Craig (STL) and Ben Zobrist (TB). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League YouTube channel<http://northwoodsleague.com/video/>. For more information, visit www.lakeshorechinooks.com.
