Rockford, IL – Following a loss to the Rivets in game one of the series on Friday, the Chinooks returned to Rockford on Saturday only to fall short to the Rivets once again by a score of 5-4.

Nolan Bond (Houston) took the mound for the Chinooks, making his second start and seventh appearance of the season for Lakeshore. Coming into Saturday, Bond held a 0-1 record with a 2.63 ERA, tallying 9 strikeouts and 3 walks in his 13.2 innings of work.

Zach Aring (St. Josephs College) was making his seventh start of the season for the Rivets. Aring held a 1-1 record with a 4.18 ERA coming into Saturday, recording 29 strikeouts and 6 walks in his 28.0 innings pitched for Rockford.

The Chinooks struck first in the top of the first. Joe Duncan (Eastern Illinois) lead off the inning with a walk, later stealing second to put a runner in scoring position for Lakeshore. Tim DalPorto (Kent State) then stepped up a roped a one-out RBI single to right, scoring Duncan from second to put the Chinooks on the board. DalPorto would advance to second on the play due to an error by Rivets’ right fielder Hunter Hargrove (Texas Tech) and then to third on a wild pitch later in the inning, ultimately coming around to score on an infield single by Matt Johnson (South Dakota State) to give the Chinooks a 2-0 lead.

The Chinooks came back swinging in the top of the second, tacking on another run on an RBI single Royce Ando (Michigan State) to increase the lead to 3-0.

But, the Rivets answered in the bottom of the second. A lead off walk issued to Hunter Hargrove, followed by a single by Ryan Long (Texas Tech) and another walk issued to Neal Tyrell (Lewis University) loaded the bases for the Rivets. Then, a two-run RBI single by Gavin Johnson (Rice) scored Hargrove and Long to make it a 3-2 ballgame.

The Rivets tacked on one more in the bottom of the third after a full count delivery from Bond sailed over the head of Chinooks’ catcher Tim DalPorto to the backstop, scoring Hunter Steinmentz (Missouri State) on the wild pitch to tie the game at 3-3.

Nolan Bond exited the game after pitching 4.2 innings, giving up three runs, two of which were earned, on four hits with two strikeouts and three walks. He was relieved by Nick Lackney (Minnesota), who was able to get out of the fifth unscathed.

However, Lackney later ran into trouble in the seventh. After giving up a two-out double to Hunter Steinmentz, who later advanced to third on a passed ball, David Cronin (UIC) laid a safety squeeze down the first base line to score Steinmentz from third to give the Rivets a 4-3 lead. Lackney would be replaced by Zach Reeg (Augustana) to record the final out of the inning, but a passed ball allowed Cronin to come around to score to increase the Rivets’ advantage to 5-3.

The Chinooks managed to tack on a run thanks to an RBI single by Matt Johnson in the eighth, but were unable to produce any offense in the top of the ninth resulting in a 5-4 victory for the Rivets.

Nick Lackney was issued his first loss of the season after giving up two runs, none of which were earned, on three hits with three strikeouts in his 2.0 innings pitched. Rivets’ reliever Jake Perkins (Chicago State) was awarded his first win of the year after holding the Chinooks to just one hit in his five scoreless innings out of the bullpen for Rockford. Kacey Murphy (Arkansas) picked up his second save of the season after coming into the game in the eighth and securing the win and series sweep for the Rivets over the Chinooks.

With the loss the Chinooks drop their second half record to 1-3 with a 16-24 overall record this year. The Rivets improve their second half record to 4-0 and their overall record to 21-19 on the season.

The Chinooks return home to Kapco Park to face off against the Green Bay Bullfrogs on Sunday at 5:05 pm

The Lakeshore Chinooks are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. Playing its 23rd 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 150 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 (DET), Curtis Granderson (NYM), Lucas Duda (NYM) and Ben Zobrist (CHC). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League portal. For more information, visit http://northwoodsleague.com/lakeshore-chinooks or download the new Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store and set the Chinooks as your favorite team.