Mequon, WI – Fresh off a 1-0 victory that took just two hours and two minutes on Saturday, the Lakeshore Chinooks took on the Wisconsin Woodchucks on Sunday. After playing three extra-innings games in four days, the quick game on Saturday clearly helped give the Chinooks some much-needed rest. The club looked much more energetic on Sunday en route to a 6-2 win against the Woodchucks. 

After scoring just one run in Saturday's game, the Chinooks broke out on Sunday. Facing starter Devin Skapura (Texas A&M-Corpus Christi) of the Woodchucks, the offense scored the first run of the game in the bottom of the second. David Edson (Southern California) got on base with a great eight-pitch at-bat that resulted in a walk, and he came around to score after Aaron Rzucidlo (Georgia) doubled him in. The team came right back in the third inning, when Zarley Zalewski (Kent State) doubled to lead off the inning and scored after Woodchucks catcher Albee Weiss (Cal State Northridge) made an errant throw when Zalewski was attempting to steal third. 

The Chinooks really broke things open in the bottom of the fourth, when all nine batters came to the plate and the club scored four runs. Jake Romano (Miami-Ohio) drove in the first run of the inning, knocking home Rzucidlo with a double. A Lucas Raley (Lake Erie College) double then drove in both Romano and Drake Parker (Vanderbilt), and Doug Kraeger (Richmond) smacked the third RBI double of the frame to drive in the fourth run, bringing home Raley.

"We've got a lot of left-handed [batters]" said manager Eddy Morgan. "When the ball carries out like it did today, it plays to our advantage with all the left-handed hitters that we've got. If we put together some quality at-bats, we're going to be able to get on a little bit of a roll."

Gavin Downs (Purdue), coming off of a complete game shutout against the Madison Mallards, had yet another great outing for the Chinooks. He threw 7.0 innings in the game, giving up just one run and striking out four while walking none. Through 21.0 innings this season, Downs has yet to walk a batter. His success was built off of the use of a nice two-seam fastball that induced weak contact all day, and he did a good job of differing speeds with his changeup and breaking ball.

"When you get quality starts from your pitching staff, you're always going to be in a ballgame." said Morgan. "[Downs] takes the bull by the horns and attacks with his fastball."

The only inning that the Woodchucks managed to get anything of off of Downs was the top of the seventh. Connor Heady (Kentucky) smacked a two-out single, and he came around to score on a triple off the bat of Taylor Kohlway (UW-La Crosse).

Adam Heidenfelder (Hofstra) got an inning of action out of the Chinooks bullpen, working around two walks to fire a scoreless frame. Coming on for the ninth was Chandler Dale (Louisville), who was making his first appearance of the season. He allowed a single run before loading the bases with two outs, and Morgan then elected to go to Jake Tuttle (UW-Milwaukee) to get the final out. Thanks to some help from a diving catch by Raley, he got out of the jam and earned the save. 

The two clubs will battle once again at Kapco Park on Monday, June 8th. After that, the Chinooks will head on the road to Eau Claire to take on the Express on Tuesday, June 9th before the team's first off day of the season on Wednesday.

The Lakeshore Chinooks are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. Playing its 21st season of summer collegiate baseball, the Northwoods 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, more than 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), Allen Craig (BOS) and Ben Zobrist (OAK). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League website.  For more information, visit www.lakeshorechinooks.com.