Green Bay, WI – Your Lakeshore Chinooks traveled to Green Bay Sunday to take on the Bullfrogs for the final regular season game of the year. With the fourth playoff spot of the Northwoods League still up for grabs, the Chinooks came into the game hungry for a win and ready to take care of business. After a night of consistent run scoring and strong pitching, the Chinooks secured themselves a 7-4 win over the Bullfrogs and the fourth spot in the Northwoods League playoffs.
Making the start for the Bullfrogs was righty pitcher Peter Castillo (Palm Beach State College) who came into the game with a 6.50 ERA. Castillo threw 3 scoreless innings against the Chinooks and then was replaced on the mound by B.J. Sabol (Indiana University) in the top of the fourth.
The Chinooks got the bats going against Sabol as Kurtis Brown (Richmond) and James Bleming (Lehigh) both smacked back-to-back singles. Hayden Senger (Miami-Ohio) reached first off an error by the Bullfrogs third basemen to load the bases for Nick Horvath (Florida) who brought Brown home off a putout that gave the Chinooks a 1-0 lead. Zac Taylor (Houston) kept the runs rolling after he roped a two out RBI triple that advanced the Chinooks lead to 2-0. Joe Duncan (Eastern Illinois) stepped up to the plate and after good patience, ripped an RBI single through the infield gap that gave the Chinooks a 3-0 lead heading into the bottom of the fourth.
Taking the mound for the Chinooks was Jack Landwehr (Illinois State) who made his third start on the year and came into the game with a 3.12 ERA and 20 strikeouts during his 31.2 innings of work.
Landwehr went scoreless until the bottom of the fifth after Austin Clemons (University of Louisville) hit a two run RBI double that brought the score to 3-2 Chinooks.
Senger gave the Chinooks a little more cushion in the top of the sixth after he bombed a lead off homer to dead center that extended the Chinooks lead to 4-2.
After going six innings and giving up only two runs while racking up two strikeouts, Landwehr was taken out and called in from the Chinooks bullpen was Dan Twitty (St. Leo) who took the mound in the bottom of the seventh for his third appearance on the year and held the Bullfrogs scoreless.
With two outs in the top of the eighth, Taylor kept the Chinooks alive after he reached second off an error by the Bullfrogs shortstop. Another error by the Bullfrogs second baseman allowed Duncan to reach first and brought Taylor home to put the Chinooks up 5-2.
Twitty did his job and threw another scoreless inning in the bottom of the eighth which brought up the heart of the Chinooks order in the top of the ninth where they faced Bullfrogs pitcher Matt McCcarthy (Penn State). After back-to-back walks by Brown and Bleming, Senger stepped up and ripped a two run RBI double to right center which gave the Chinooks a solid 7-2 lead.
In the bottom of the ninth, the Bullfrogs added on two more runs off of a fielder's choice and an RBI single that put the score at 7-4 Chinooks. Twitty did not let it phase him on the mound and got the final out in the ninth to secure the Chinooks a win over the Bullfrogs and continue the season on into the playoffs.
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