LA CROSSE, WI- La Crosse and Kenosha battled in Copeland Park tonight. Kenosha, the South Division first-half winner, sat on the top of the second-half standings. The next four games, all against the Kingfish, are very important ones. The Kingfish came into the game on four game win streak and the Loggers had won three of their last five.
Zach Lewis (Wichita State) got the start for the Lumberman against E.J. Trapino (Wright State) for Kenosha. An early problem in the second-half of the season has been giving up early runs. La Crosse has given up nine runs in the 1st and 2nd innings in the last two games.
The streak continued tonight. Kenosha churned out three straight singles to start the game. A sacrifice fly to center brought in the runner from third. Lewis got his first out when he fielded a grounder and got the runner at third into a pickle. Things did not get much better when Alex Borglin (Central Michigan) homered to right field to make the Kenosha lead 4-0.
The Kingfish were not done yet. The leadoff man in the 3rd reached once again on a double. An error by second baseman Jordan Zimmerman (Michigan State) made it runners on the corners with no one out. Two batters later, Alex Dunlop (Stanford) doubled to left-center to bring in both runs. Nolan Gromacki (Missouri) then came into relieve Lewis. He walked a batter, but got out of the 3rd without any further damage.
La Crosse put the pressure on Trapino in the 5th inning. Ryan Kirby (San Diego) walked followed by Mason McCoy’s (Iowa) 59th hit of the season. Zimmerman walked to load the bases. Alex Merritt (North Florida) took four pitches to walk in La Crosse’s first run of the game. Will Savage (Columbia) popped out to center to end the Logger threat.
Kenosha did not show any signs of slowing down. The first two batters reached on singles. Zach Weigel (Seton Hall) loaded the count before sending a 3-run shot into the right field stands. Nick Sergakis (Ohio State) added an insurance run with a solo shot in the 9th inning.
La Crosse did not give up without a fight. Ronnie Gideon (Texas A&M) opened the 9th with a walk. Zander Clarke (UCLA) singled to left to put two on with no one out. Ryan Kirby came up huge with a 3-run shot to left-center. Kingfish pitchers walked three straight batters. Alex Merritt took the big opportunity and singled to center, scoring McCoy and Zimmerman. That was all for the Loggers as they dropped the series opener, 10-6.
Tonight was “Military Night” and it was truly a special night. All with a military ID got into the game for free. State Vice Commander of the Wisconsin American Legion was in attendance and did an interview on the Loggers’ radio broadcast. Then, during the bottom of the 6th inning, play was stopped at exactly 9:11 PM. A rendition “Proud to Be an American” was played along with a picture slideshow showed on the video board.
La Crosse and Kenosha play one more in Copeland before heading to Kenosha for two more. Tomorrow night’s game is schedulbed for a 5:05 PM start so make sure you include a Logger game in your Fourth of July plans.