Now that the air and bats cooled off after Wednesday night’s 32-hit game, the Chinooks were looking forward to getting back to some quality baseball and more importantly back in the win column. The Chinooks rode the back of Chris Cotton (LSU) into the win column with a 6-4 victory over the Madison Mallards Thursday night.
Cotton, who joined the team after his Tigers were eliminated from the college world series, gave the Chinooks just what they were looking for, pitching 5 scoreless innings while only giving up 2 hits with no walks and 2 strike-outs.
“Great game by Cotton who started us off right, that’s how you have to set the table,” said Head Coach John Vodenlich.
Zack Granite (Seton Hall) broke the scoreless duel in the fourth when his RBI single to left field scored Bre’ Kimbell (Lousiana Tech) who had walked earlier in the inning. After Matt Harjung (Missouri Baptist) singled to left, Matt Morse (UAB) followed with what the crowd thought was a home run over the left field wall. The ball actually bounced off the top edge to stay in play and Morse was tagged out on his way to third.
“I saw the first base umpire start to raise his hands, I put my head down, gave a little fist pump and to be honest, it’s pretty embarrassing. When I was between second and third base, I saw the ball come into the shortstop and didn’t know what to do so I tried getting back to second, but it was to late,” said Morse on his almost home run.
The Chinooks stayed hot in the fifth as Charlie Markson (Notre Dame) started the inning with a lead off walk. Forrest Chadwick (Southern Maine), who hit a grand slam yesterday, followed with an infield single. The Mallards tried to get Markson out at third on the play, but the overthrown ball went into the dugout and both base runners were awarded an additional base; Chadwick to second and Markson home. Kimbell later singled to center and drove in Chadwick to give the Chinooks a 5-0 lead after the fifth.
The Mallards welcomed a pitching change as Garrett Carpenter (Colorado Mesa) got the call from the bullpen in the sixth. The Mallards rallied off Carpenter for five hits and four runs in the inning. The scoring started with back to back singles to right field by Tom Lally and John Welborn before a sacrifice fly by Mike Reuvenkamp scored Lally. After a double by Jose Trevino, Jeff Zimmerman homered over the right field wall to bring the Mallards within one run. Another single kept the Mallards bats alive before a routing 6-4-3 double play ended the inning with the lead still in tact.
The Chinooks added to their lead in the eighth as Granite started the inning with a lead off single. Morse reached later in the inning on a throwing error to first that brought Granite home.
Cotton recieved the win tonight as his Mallards counterpart Sam Forkert took the loss. Keaton Steele (Missouri) saved the game, pitching a clean ninth with a strikeout.
The Chinooks look to put a winning streak together against the Mallards who have now lost four straight. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05PM tomorrow at Kapco Park in Mequon.
