Wausau, WI – The Lakeshore Chinooks returned to the field after a three day break due to the Northwoods League All Star game and hit the road to take on the Wisconsin Woodchucks. The Chinooks came into the game hungry for a win and after a battle at the plate, the Chinooks would fall to the Woodchucks in a 6-5 loss.

Making his second appearance against the Chinooks and seventh start for the Woodchucks was Jonah Dipoto (UC-San Diego) who came into the game with a 5.00 ERA during his 27 innings pitched.

The Chinooks would get started early off Dipoto in the top of the second after Darius Sewell (Georgia State) got the ball club started with a one out walk. Owen Miller (Illinois State) stepped up to the plate a roped a double off the wall to put runners on second and third for Hayden Senger (Miami-Ohio) who bombed a two run RBI double off the wall and gave the Chinooks a 2-0 lead.

Taking the mound for the Chinooks was lefty pitcher Tyler Jandron (UW-Parkside) who made his fourth start on the year and came in with a 1.15 ERA and 16 strikeouts in his 16.1 innings of work. The Woodchucks would strike on Jandron in the bottom of the second after George Janca (Texas A&M) hit a one out singled followed by Cade Harris (University of Oklahoma) who hit an RBI single that scored Janca and made it 2-1 Chinooks.

The Woodchucks kept the bats rolling in the bottom of the third after Steele Walker (University of Oklahoma) and Jared Oliva (University of Arizona) hit back-to-back doubles that allowed one run to score and tied the game up at 2-2. Steve Passatempo (UMass Lowell) advanced to first off a wild pitch and with one out, Janca singled to bring Oliva home and gave the Woodchucks a 3-2 lead.  

In the bottom of the fourth, the Woodchucks struck again after Connor Heady (University of Kentucky) singled followed by Oliva who drew a two out walk. With runners on first and second, Passatempo stepped up and hit an RBI single that scored Heady and gave the Woodchucks a 4-2 lead.

The Chinooks do not let the lead phase them. In the top of the sixth they came right back after Tim Dalporto (Kent State) and Matt Johnson (South Dakota State) both drew back-to-back walks. That brought up Sewell who bombed a 3 run home run to regain the Chinooks a 5-4 lead. With no outs, the Woodchucks made a substitution on the mound. Michael Imperato (Brookdale Community College) came in for Dipoto after he went 5 innings and gave up 5 runs. Imperato would get out of the rest of the inning scoreless.

Jandron would be taken out after going 5 innings, gave up 4 runs and racked up 5 strikeouts. Liam Jenkins (Arizona State) was called in from the Chinooks bullpen in the bottom of the sixth and would go a solid three scoreless innings while also racking up 5 strikeouts. 

In the bottom of the ninth, with runners on first and second and no outs, the Chinooks brought in Jack Landwehr (Illinois State) from the bullpen who gave up an infield single to Oliva. With the bases loaded, Passatempo stepped up to the plate and hit an RBI single which would close the door on the Chinooks and secured the Woodchucks a 6-5 win.

The Chinooks will take on the Woodchucks for game two of the series Friday night at 7:05.

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, visithttp://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.