Mequon, WI – The Lakeshore Chinooks clinched at least a .500 record on the season with a win against the Kalamazoo Growlers on Saturday, and the team squared off against the Growlers again on Sunday in the final game of the season. They came up short this time, though, fallng by a score of 6-2. 

Jake Tuttle (UW-Milwaukee) was the starter for the Chinooks, his first start of the season after he previously appeared in 14 games in relief. He got off to a good start, striking out all three batters in the first inning, but he got into trouble in the second. He let the bases get loaded, and a run came around to score when Bryce Adams (LSU) grounded into a double play, bringing a run across. The Growlers added two more after RBI singles from John Soteropulos (California) and Angelo Armenta (USC). 

Tuttle was replaced by Ryan Dunne (John Logan College) in the third. Dunne threw a scoreless inning, which would turn out to be his only inning as the Chinooks brought in Nick Brown (Missouri State) for the fourth. Brown certainly did his job, firing two scoreless innings while giving up just one hit.

The Chinooks added two runs to narrow the deficit in the bottom of the fifth. Lucas Raley (Lake Erie College) led off the inning with a double into the right-center gap, but the next two hitters were retired. Andrew Shaps (Arizona State) came through with the key two-out hit, bringing in Raley to make it a 3-1 ballgame. After David Edson (USC) walked, the Chinooks added another run thanks to Anthony Massicci (Canisius), who singled in Shaps. The team did strand the bases loaded as they continued to trail by one. 

Teddy Klingsporn (Luther College) came on in relief in the sixth, but after loading the bases with no outs, he was replaced by Lincoln Voss (Illinois State). Kalamazoo plated two more runs in the frame, this time on a two-RBI double off the bat of Justin Fletcher (Northern Illinois), allowing two of Voss's inherited runners to come around to score and making the score 5-2. Voss stayed on to toss a scoreless seventh before being removed in favor of Parker Sanburn (Arkansas).

Sanburn gave up a run in the eighth when Fletcher hit a sacrifice fly to extend the Growlers' lead to four runs. That was the only inning he would throw as Zach Reeg (Augustana) came on in the ninth. He held the Growlers scoreless in his only inning of work. 

The Chinooks offense could never come up with a rally, so the game finished at 6-2. With the loss, the Chinooks finish the season at an even 36-36. 

The Northwoods League is the proven leader in the development of elite college baseball players. The 21 year old summer collegiate 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 120 Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (CWS), Jordan Zimmermann (WAS), Curtis Granderson (NYM), Lucas Duda (NYM) and Ben Zobrist (OAK). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League website. For more information, visit www.lakeshorechinooks.com.