The Fond du Lac Dock Spiders opened up their first home game against the Lakeshore Chinooks and the offense came alive late for a seventh inning rally.
It all started with Aaron Funk (Arkansas Little-Rock) who got the home opener nod. Funk looked great as he went six and a third innings of five hit baseball and striking out nine.
The Chinooks opened up the game with a run in the third inning. The Dock Spiders offense quickly answered with back to back hits by Jack Alexander (Notre Dame) and Thomas Paulich (Stevens Institute of Technology), driving in Alexander on an RBI single.
In the fifth Max Downs (Saint Xavier) smoked a ball to left field for a solo homerun to give the Dock Spiders the lead at 2-1. It woudln’t last long before the Chinooks answered with a run of their own in the top of the seventh.
The bottom of the seventh was when the Chinooks pitching staff started to struggle. Two walks and a hit by pitch loaded the bases before Zack Prajzner (Notre Dame) got an RBI via a hit by pitch.
Andrew Bullock (Western Carolina) stepped up to the plate with bases loaded and delivered a two run double to put the dagger in the Chinooks with a 5-2 lead.
It was Nathan Thomas (Northern Illinois) who closed the door on a 5-3 victory on the Dock Spiders home opener.
Next up the Dock Spiders vs. the Chinooks tomorrow with first pitch scheduled for 1:05 PM CST. The first 500 fans will receive a Zac Charbonneau championship bobblehead.
The Fond du Lac Dock Spiders are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. The 25-year old summer collegiate league is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 22 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, over 200 former Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS), two-time World Series Champions Ben Zobrist (CHC) and Brandon Crawford (SFG) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (BOS), Jordan Zimmermann (DET) and Curtis Granderson (MIA). All league games are viewable live via theNorthwoods League portal. For more information, visit www.dockspiders.com or download the new Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play and set the Dock Spiders as your favorite team.
