Wisconsin Rapids, WI – After your Lakeshore Chinooks earned themselves an exciting win Sunday night, which secured them the fourth spot in the Northwoods League playoffs, the Chinooks hit the road Monday night and faced off against the Wisconsin Rapids Rafters in a game that went very south, very quickly for the Chinooks.
On the mound for the Chinooks was Cole Gnetz (Miami-Ohio) who made his tenth start on the year and second appearance against the Rafters. Gnetz came into the game with a 3.68 ERA while racking up 37 strikeouts in his 51.1 innings of work.
The Rafters got an early jump on the Chinooks righty start, Gnetz, in the bottom of the first after he gave up back-to-back RBI singles which allowed 3 runs to score. With only one out, Brandon Polizzi (Cal State – Dominguez Hills) hit an RBI single which brought another run home, followed by a grand slam from Andrew Turner (LIU-Brooklyn) that put the Rafters up 8-0.
After Gnetz went two thirds of an inning, he was replaced on the mound by Chinooks relief pitcher, Nick Winter (UW-Milwaukee) who gave up an RBI single which gave the Rafters a 9-0 lead to end the first.
Winter continued on the mound in the bottom of the second and started out the inning with two straight walks and gave up a single to load the bases for Turner who was hit by a pitch which allowed a run to score and put the Rafters up 10-0.
After Winter went a third of an inning Chinooks manager Eddy Morgan went to the bullpen and called in Luke Sommerfeld (Saint Louis) who gave up an early RBI single followed by two wild pitches that allowed two more runs to score. Rob Calabrese (Illinois Chicago) ended the inning with a two run homer which advanced the score to 15-0 Rafters.
The Rafters tacked on one run in the bottom of the third after a run scored on a putout which brought the score to 16-0 Rafters.
In the bottom of the fifth, the Rafters tacked on their final runs of the evening after two RBI singles and a fielder’s choice allowed three more runs to cross the plate and gave the Rafters a large 19-0 lead.
Sommerfield went 4 innings while giving up six runs and was replaced on the mound by Jake Kolasinski (UW-Parkside) who held the Rafters scoreless through his 3 innings of work and racked up two strikeouts.
The Chinooks faced Rafters starter Chris Cooper (Texas AM Corpus Christi) who took the mound with a 2.02 ERA and held them scoreless through 3 innings.
In the top of the seventh, Zac Taylor (Houston) roped an RBI single off of Rafters pitcher Reed Stumpf (Dubuque) and allowed the Chinooks to get on the board and brought the score to 19-1 Rafters.
The Chinooks were able to tack on two more runs in the top of the ninth where the batters faced Rafters pitcher Joe Wainhouse (Washington). Kolasinski smacked a one out single and Taylor reached first after being hit by a pitch. Joe Duncan (Eastern Illinois) was able to bring both runners home after he ripped a single and made it 19-3 Rafters.
Unfortunately, the Chinooks could not come out of the early hole they dug themselves into and ended the year on a tough 19-3 loss.
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 or download the new Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store and set the Chinooks as your favorite team.
