Kingfish Lose Close Call in Hazy 5-4

It was a showdown of talented pitchers tonight at Simmons Field for the Kenosha Kingfish and the Lakeshore Chinooks. The starting pitchers for both teams were top notch on the mound and made it a hard fought battle to score. The Kingfish performed well both offensively and defensively but couldn’t get through the fog and lose 5-4.

Kingfish starter J.D Nielsen was strong through six and two thirds inning and recorded easy outs. Cam Vieaux wasted no time with his pitches and logged three strikeouts and no runs in his six innings of work for the Chinooks.  The Kingfish were able to get on base in the third off of a Spencer Gaa double and later in the fourth with a hit by pitch but weren’t able to push them across.  The Chinooks answered right back in the fifth with a double from Ryan Krill. Taylor Douglas made a great catch in center field to end the inning and keep the score at 0-0.

The Chinooks plated the first run of the night in the sixth. Speedy Luke Meeteer was walked and shortly after the bases were loaded with two outs. The Kingfish were able to get out of the jam with only one run allowed.  The story was very similar in the seventh with two on board and no outs, but the Chinooks went up three runs to nothing. 

The entire evening the weather was cold, muggy and in the middle of the seventh fog starting rolling in. The game was briefly suspended for a fog delay which could be blamed for the lack of visibility and a missed catch by Pat Porter that allowed the Chinooks to score. In total, Lakeshore tacked on four runs in the seventh.

Going into the bottom of the seventh, the Kingfish did not let the weather deter them and found themselves with bases loaded and no outs.  CJ Saylor was able to reach home on a botched throw to first and scored the first run of the night, but the Kingfish did not stop there.  The Kingfish had the bases loaded with no outs and drove Spencer Gaa in on another wild pitch. To the benefit of the Kingfish, the Chinooks struggled in the seventh with pitching and cycled through two pitchers. Kyle Brooks was lively tonight with three hits, including a single in the seventh, in four plate appearances. Taylor Douglas was walked and next up was Pat Porter who hit into a double play but was still able to get Kyle Brooks home. Another wild pitch scored Taylor Douglas during Zach Ratcliff’s at bat. Duffy Dyer’s team made a strong comeback in the seventh with four runs and found themselves only trailing by one to a score of 4-5.

The Kingfish fought hard all night long but couldn’t get past the Chinooks and fell in the first game of the series. The Kingfish look for justice tomorrow at 7:05 against the Chinooks. In attendance at tomorrow’s game will also be WWE Hall of Famer “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan.

The Kingfish office is located at 7817 Sheridan Road and is open from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. on Saturday. For more information on 7-game packs, season or group tickets, please log on to kingfishbaseball.com or call 262.653.0900.