Kalamazoo, MI – The Lakeshore Chinooks (6-8) beat the Kalamazoo Growlers Tuesday night, racking up 15 total hits and 13 runs in a 13-6 beatdown.
The scoring started early for the Chinooks, pounding out four runs in the top half of the 1st inning. Lakeshore newcomer Matthew Mika (Central Florida) singled and later came around to score on a Jacob Richardson (Southern Arkansas) RBI single to put the Chinooks up 1-0 early. Nick Gatewood (Georgia State) would reach on an error by Growlers’ shortstop, Brynn Martinez, and another Chinooks’ newcomer, Rylan Thomas (Central Florida), would walk to set the stage for TJ Raguse (Baylor), who was also making his team debut.
Raguse hit a slow dribbler back to the mound, but Kalamazoo starter, Tyler Drabick, couldn’t field it cleanly and made a wild throw home to try and cut down the runner. As a result of the error, Gatewood and Thomas would come around to score and give the Chinooks a 3-0 lead. Daniel DeSimone (Oklahoma State) then grounded out, which allowed Richardson to score, giving Lakeshore the 4-0 advantage.
In the bottom of the first, Jeff Riedel walked and later scored on an Aaron Patton (St. Louis) wild pitch, cutting the Chinooks’ lead to 3. After Patton hit Ryan Mergener with a pitch, Patton was forced to leave the game with what looked like a leg injury. Patton left after recording just two outs, and Austin Havekost (Kent State) came in to replace him and ended up pitching 3.1 innings.
The Chinooks would tack on another run in the top of the second to push the lead back up to 4. Joe Acker (Nebraska) got things going with a walk, and later scored on a sacrifice fly from Nick Gatewood.
To start things out in the bottom of the 2nd for the Growlers, Kaleb Murphy reached on an error by Jacob Richardson, which was followed up by a Brynn Martinez walk. Murphy would score on a Jeff Riedel RBI groundout, and Martinez would come around to score on a Matt Koehler RBI single that didn’t even get out of the infield. Later in the inning, Ivan Estrella doubled, which scored Koehler and left the Growlers down by just one run.
The Chinooks would build up their lead even more in the top of the 3rd, starting with a TJ Raguse RBI double that drove in Jacob Richardson. Raguse would later score on a Jack Dunn (Northwestern) sacrifice fly, giving Lakeshore a 7-4 lead. After Growlers’ pitcher, Chet Joslyn, loaded up the bases, Nick Gatewood was hit by a pitch that barely grazed his jersey. The hit-by-pitch would score Joe Acker and give the Chinooks the 8-4 lead.
TJ Raguse, already having quite an impressive team debut, hit a one-out solo homer to right in the top of the 4th to push the Chinooks’ lead up to 5.
Kalamazoo cut into the Lakeshore lead in the bottom of the 4th, starting with a Matt Koehler sacrifice fly that scored Brynn Martinez. The Growlers would tack on another run on a sacrifice fly from Ivan Estella that scored Jeff Riedel, making it a 9-6 game.
Drake Lubin (Eastern Michigan) led off the 5th with a solo shot to left that had plenty of distance, giving the Chinooks a 10-6 lead.
The Chinooks would hit their third home run of the night in the top of the 6th, giving Lakeshore the 12-6 lead. This long ball was hit by Daniel DeSimone, driving in TJ Raguse after he led off the inning with a single.
In the top of the 9th inning, Jacob Richardson doubled and later came around to score on a Walter Talcott wild pitch to tack on another run for the Chinooks. In the bottom half of the 9th, Marshall Oetting (Concordia-Ann Arbor), returning for his second inning of work, retired the Kalamazoo hitters 1-2-3 to secure the Chinooks’ 13-6 victory.
The Chinooks’ offense was very impressive in this contest, scoring 13 runs on 15 hits, while scoring at least one run in 7 of 9 innings. TJ Raguse, named Northwoods League player of the night, made his team debut and went 3-6 with a home run, 3 RBI, and 3 runs scored.
The Lakeshore Chinooks (6-8) stay in Kalamazoo for another game against the Growlers tomorrow night as Zach Spears takes the ball as Lakeshore looks to sweep the 2-game set.
The Lakeshore Chinooks are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. The 23-year-old summer collegiate league is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 20 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 170 former Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including two-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS), two-time World Series Champion Ben Zobrist (CHC) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (BOS), Jordan Zimmermann (DET), Curtis Granderson (NYM) and Lucas Duda (NYM). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League portal. For more information, visit www.lakeshorechinooks.com or download the new Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play and set the Chinooks as your favorite team.
