MEQUON, WI – One day after stranding over a dozen on base, the Lakeshore Chinooks found ways to bring them all home, drowning the Kalamazoo Growlers 12-0 on Wednesday night at Kapco Park.
The Chinooks (7-11, 24-26) got the ball rolling immediately against Kalamazoo starter Ryan May (LSU). Anthony Massicci (Canisius) and Andrew Shaps (Arizona State) hit back-to-back singles on May’s first two pitches of the game. Massicci then scored on an RBI groundout by Doug Kraeger (Richmond). Lakeshore broke it open with four runs in the third. David Edson (USC) walked and came home on a Massicci double, and Massicci in turn scored on a one-out double by Zarley Zalewski (Kent State). Kraeger gave the frame an exclamation point with a long home run to left field to make it 5-0 and knock out May.
The home side kept lighting up the scoreboard in the middle three innings, scoring once in the fourth and three times each in the fifth and sixth. Mark Kolozsvary (Florida), Edson, and Massicci each plated runs in the fifth, while Jake Romano (Miami, OH) highlighted the sixth with a two-run single.
The Growlers (5-12, 13-37) tallied hits in four straight innings, beginning in the fifth, but the Chinook defense held each time. Starter Marshall Kasowski (Houston) incuded double plays to end the fifth and sixth and struck out back-to-back Growlers to get out of a seventh-inning jam. Kasowski (4-0) finished the game with seven shutout innings, giving up just four hits and a walk while punching out seven on 86 pitches. Lincoln Voss (Augustana, SD) and Chris Hoffman (Missouri Southern) each pitched an inning to clinch the shutout for the home side.
May (0-3) gave up five runs on six hits in his three innings of work, while Adrian Morales (Jackson College/Rochester College), Alex Kuisel (Academy of Art), and Akaash Agarwal (California) saw action out of the bullpen with Agarwall getting through two scoreless frames in the end.
Justin Fletcher (Northern Illinois) and Marquise Gill (Eastern Illinois) hit doubles for Kalamazoo, while Max Schuman (Utah) led the way with a pair of base hits.
Krager went 2-for-5 with a double, home run, and four RBIs for the Chinooks, while Massici doubled twice, drove in two runs, and scored three times.
Kalamazoo and Lakeshore have now split their six games this season with the Chinooks outscoring the Growlers 36-10.
The Growlers now return to Homer Stryker Field for four games to lead into the Northwoods League All-Star Break. The first series will bring the La Crosse Loggers to town. First pitch on Thursday is set for 7:05 p.m.
The Northwoods League is the proven leader in the development of elite college baseball players. The 22-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, 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 YouTube channel. For more information, visit http://www.northwoodsleague.com.