Fleischman Homers Late to Give Chucks a Chance, but Kingfish Hold On

Wausau, Wis. – The Wisconsin Woodchucks erupted for 12 runs in the first inning Thursday night and ran away with a win. For a while on Friday night, it looked like the Kenosha Kingfish, who held leads of 4-0 and 5-1, would run away with a win of their own, but the Chucks would not go away. Wisconsin (20-29; 5-9) scored twice in the seventh and once in the eighth, but the Kingfish (28-20), anchored by their closer, held on for a 5-4 win at Athletic Park.

Andreas Papageorge tossed two scoreless in his second start of the year, but after he walked Connor Doyle with one out in the third, he had to be lifted from the game due to an injury. Jake Gross had to come in after only a few warmups, and Mike Madej doubled off him to put two men in scoring position, and Tim Millard scored them both with a double of his own.

The Kingfish got right back to it in the fourth. Jesse Wilkening hit a one-out single and Ben Troike doubled him home. Doyle then drew another walk and Madej grounded out to score Troike and put Kenosha ahead 4-0.

But the Chucks kicked their comeback efforts into gear in the bottom half with a solo homer by Logan Foster. The Fish bounced back in the sixth with an unearned run off Drew Spaeth in his summer debut when Madej scored Troike on a groundout for the second time to make it 5-1 Fish.

Kenosha starter Mitch Boyer was good through five, but he ran into big trouble in the sixth. Hunter Coleman led off with a single, and Foster and Trey Dawson both walked to load the bases with nobody out. Colan Treml came in in relief and somehow got Chad Fleischman to line into a double play and Aaron Soucy to pop out to ensure that the Chucks would push no runs across in the sixth.

But they did push runs across in the seventh. Jackson Owens led off with his second double of the day, and James Davison pulled a single through the right side to score Owens. Davison advanced to second on a wild pitch and stole third, and Stevie Mangrum plated him with a double to make it 5-3. But they didn’t stop there. Against Cole Erickson, Fleischman stepped up and launched his second homer of the year, to dead center, to pull Wisconsin within one.

Lenny Gwizdala tossed two scoreless innings, helped by a pickoff in the eighth, to give the Chucks a chance. But they had to face Kenosha’s Billy McKay, and the sidearmer got the job done. Coleman singled with two outs to put the tying run aboard, but Foster struck out to end the ballgame, handing McKay his ninth save of the year and handing Kenosha a 5-4 win.

Madison is one of the teams Wisconsin is chasing in the playoff race, which is handy because the Mallards come to town Saturday night. Payton Coffman will start for the Chucks, with first pitch slated for 6:35 PM.

Tickets are on sale to all Wisconsin Woodchucks home games and the 2017 Northwoods League Home Run Derby and All-Star Game, presented by Ascension. Tickets can be purchased online, by calling 715.845.5055 or by stopping by the Woodchucks front office during normal business hours.

Tim Hackett, Broadcasting Intern