Mequon, WI – The Lakeshore Chinooks took on the Kenosha Kingfish at home in the first game of a home-and-away doubleheader, d secured game one of the series with an impressive 10-8 win.
Cole Gnetz (Miami-Ohio) got the start for the Chinooks. He made his fourth appearance of the season with a 2.70 ERA and 14 strikeouts in sixteen and two thirds innings pitched. While this was not one of Gnetz finest outings, he come out in the top of the first giving up a single to Marty Bechina (Michigan State) followed by a double to center by Pat McInerney (University of Illinois). Pete Schuler (Kent State) smacked a single scoring Bechina making it 1-0 Kingfish. Gnetz strikes out Nick Kanavas (Madison College) on a wild pitch, but allows McInerney to score giving the Kingfish an early 2-0 lead in the top of the first.
Top of the second Gnetz comes out strong getting a one, two, three inning. Top of the third Jack Yalowitz (Illinois) walked and Bechina brought him home after he torched a triple to center making it 3-0 Kingfish. McInerney and Schuler drew back-to-back walks followed by back-to-back sacrifice flies from Kanavas and Micah Coffey (Minnesota) that scored two more runs increasing the Kingfish lead to 5-0. Gunnar McNeil (Kentucky) gets a base hit bring Schuler home giving the Kingfish a large 6-0 lead.
Charlie Hecht (Georgia College) started for the Kingfish making his fourth appearance and coming in with a 0.98 ERA with 16 strikeouts in eighteen and one third innings pitched.He was untouched until the bottom of the third when the Chinooks started to get hot at the plate. Joe Duncan (Eastern Illinois) walked and Gage Canning (Arizona State) smoked a single to center field. Kurtis Brown (Richmond) smashed a 3 run home run out to the right field grass making it 6-3 Kingfish. That is the fifth home run on the season for the Chinooks.
Top of the fourth Chinooks bring in Nick Lackney (Minnesota) making his third appearance for Chinooks and he got out of the fourth inning untouched
Both teams would go cold at the plate until the bottom of the sixth when Owen Miller (Illinois State) hit an infield single follwed by an RBI triple from James Bleming (Lehigh) scoring Miller to make it 6-4 Kingfish. Alec Olund (Purdue) walks and Royce Ando (Michigan State) rips a double to right bringing two runners home tying the game 6-6.
The Kingfish saw enough in the bottom of the sixth and called in Ty Harris (University of Arkansas) from the bullpen to make his fifth appearance for the Kingfish and get them out of the inning scoreless.
Kingfish come to the plate in the top of the seventh and Bechina led off with a single single and McInerney drew a walk. Chinooks bring in relief pitcher Chris Choles (North Dakota State) who is just coming off a win against the Rockford Rivets Coffey roped an RBI single scoring Bechina and McNeil hit a sacrifice fly to center regaining the lead for the Kingfish, 8-6.
The Chinooks came out firing in the bottom of the seventh after Canning drew a walk and Tim DalPorto (Kent State) smacked a single to left. Brown got his second hit of the game with a single to load the bases. Matt Johnson (South Dakota State) rocks a grand slam deep to right field giving the Chinooks a 10-8 lead. Bobby Skogsbergh (Boston College) comes into pitch for the Kingfish
The Kingfish threatened in the bottom of the ninth after McInerney lead off with a double for the Kingfish and Schuker followed with a walk. Kanavas lined a single into left loading the bases for pinch hitter JD Hearn (UC San Diego) who struck out leaving the base runners stranded and securing the 10-8 win for the Chinooks. The win was granted to Chinnoks pitcher Chris Choles.
After the game Johnson was very excited about hitting a grand slam and the team securing a win. Johnson says "It felt good to hit that home run. It's been awhile since I have hit for power and it felt great. It feels nice to secure the win since the last couple games we have just fell short. We want to get back on a winning streak and get some of our confidence back."
Brown had a fantastic game going 3-5 at the plate along with Johnson and Miller who both went 2-4. The three combined for 7 RBI's.
The Chinooks will take on the Kingfish tonight for the second game of the split double header at 7:05 in Kenosha.
The Lakeshore Chinooks are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. Playing its 23rd 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 150 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 (DET), Curtis Granderson (NYM), Lucas Duda (NYM) and Ben Zobrist (CHC). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League portal. For more information, visithttp://northwoodsleague.com/lakeshore-chinooks.
