After a tough loss Sunday 5-4 the Lakeshore Chinooks bounced back in a big way to retain a 2.5 game lead in the race for the second and final playoff spot in the south division with a 3-1 win over the La Crosse Loggers from Copland Park.
The Chinooks got to La Crosse starter Corey Ceponis right away. The first three batters reached base before Aaron Machbitz (South Dakota State) drove in two with a single to give his team the early lead
Chinooks starter Joe Pavlovich (UW-Oshkosh) ran into some of the same trouble in the bottom half of the first inning. The first three batters reached base, bringing to the plate the top power hitter in the league, Michael Katz. Katz grounded into a double play allowing a run to score and Pavlovich got out of the inning with the lead still intact 2-1.
After that point both starters settled down. Pavlovich retired 10 of the next 11 batters he faced. La Crosse loaded the bases on Pavlovich with two outs in the fifth inning but Jake Tuttle (UWM) came on to get the final out of the inning
The Loggers put the pressure on in the bottom of the 6th putting runners at the corners with two outs. Eric Toole tried to steal putting to runners in scoring position but catcher Travis Enger (St. Cloud State) held on to the ball after a fake and threw a strike to third to nail Jonny Bekakis to end the inning.
Sawyer Polen (Kent State University) lead off the seventh inning with a pop up down the third base line that was dropped. The home plate umpire ruled that ball fouled when it appeared to be fair. After some discussion, the call stood giving Polen another chance to hit. He did not miss, hitting the next pitch over the wall in center for his fourth home run of the season to make it 3-1 Lakeshore.
After an injury Jack Landwehr came on an threw a scoreless 8th after getting loose on the game mound and Mitchel Sewald (LSU) closed things down for the save.
The team travels to Waterloo, Iowa for three games before closing the season with a pair of two game sets in Rochester, Minnesota and Madison, Wisconsin.
