Battle Creek, MI- The Lakeshore Chinooks (7-9) fell to the Battle Creek Bombers by a score of 14-6 Thursday night in a game featuring two high-powered offenses.

Matthew Mika (Central Florida) scored one of his three runs in the top of the 1^st, crossing home after a Nick Gatewood (Georgia State) RBI single to give the Chinooks the early 1-0 lead.

Matthew Mika led off the top half of the 3^rd with a single and later came around to score on another Nick Gatewood RBI single, increasing the Lakeshore lead to 2.

Nick Gatewood would add to his RBI total in the top of the 4^th, driving in Matthew Mika and Connor Kimple (Oklahoma State) on a 2-run single to give the Chinooks the 4-0 lead. In the bottom half of the inning, JD Mundy drove in Tom Stoffel on an RBI groundout, giving the Bombers their first run of the game. Later in the inning, Storm Joop would tack on another run for Battle Creek, driving in Nick Walker on a triple hit in the right-center gap, cutting the Chinooks’ lead to just 2.

Matthew Mika added to his impressive day at the plate in the top of the 5^th inning, rocketing a single up the middle that scored Jack Dunn (Northwestern), giving the Chinooks a 5-2 lead, and gave Dunn his 4^th hit in 4 at-bats.

The Bombers again retaliated in the bottom of the 5^th, this time with a Tom Stoffel sac fly, driving in Cale Hennemann. The Bombers would go on to tie the game later in the inning with a 2-run double coming from JD Mundy, scoring Alex Howard and Alec Trela, leaving Battle Creek and Lakeshore with 5 runs apiece. Storm Joop came through with his 3^rd hit of the game, this one being an RBI single just out of the reach of Chinooks’ shortstop, Jack Dunn. The hit scored Mundy and gave the Bombers’ their first lead of the game.

Nick Campe (Olivet Nazarene) got the call from the bullpen, marking the 3^rd pitching change of the inning for Lakeshore. Nick Walker would score on a passed ball by Chinooks’ catcher, Nick Gatewood, giving the Bombers a 7-5 advantage.  Battle Creek wasn’t done scoring in the bottom of the 5^th, as Cale Hennemann drove in two more runs on a single, allowing Storm Joop and Jacob Blunt to score. The Bombers batted around in the inning, scoring 7 runs, while taking the 9-5 lead over the Chinooks.

Daniel DeSimone (Oklahoma State) joined the hit parade in the top of the 7^th, legging out a hustle double that was hit in the right-center gap after Nick Walker slowly made his way to the ball. After advancing to third base, DeSimone was able to score on a wild pitch from Bombers’ pitcher Takoda Metoxen with Jack Dunn at the plate. Metoxen was fortunate to escape the inning with only the one run allowed, as Lakeshore loaded the bases with one out and couldn’t capitalize.

Nikola Vasic was hit by a pitch for a league-leading 11^th time to kick things off in the bottom of the 8^th inning, later coming around to score on a Tom Stoffel RBI single. Alec Trela was then hit by a pitch, the second of the inning by Chinooks’ reliever, Cole Gnetz (Miami-Ohio). Stoffel later scored on a JD Mundy RBI single, giving Mundy 3 RBI for the game. Nick Walker then grounded out to first, but allowed Trela to score on the RBI groundout.

Storm Joop wasn’t satisfied with his 3-4 day at the plate, as Joop singled home Mundy, giving Joop his first 4-hit game of the season. Next up was Jacob Blunt, who singled to right, but an errant throw from Chinooks’ right fielder, Caleb Dean (Lamar), allowed Joop to come all the way home. Altogether, the Bombers plated 5 runs in the inning and led 14-6 heading into the 9^th.

Taylor Horn was called upon to close out the game for the Bombers in the top of the 9^th, and worked around a leadoff hit-by-pitch to retire the Chinooks without breaking a sweat.

This game featured a combined 25 hits and 20 runs, with both offenses showing some flare. Bombers’ Storm Joop went 4-5 with 2 RBI and 2 runs scored, while JD Mundy went 3-4 with 3 RBI and 2 runs scored. For the Chinooks, Matthew Mika went a perfect 4-4 with 3 runs scored, while Nick Gatewood went 3-5 with 4 RBI.

The Lakeshore Chinooks (7-9) will face off against the Battle Creek Bombers again tomorrow night in Battle Creek as the Chinooks will call upon Shane Smith to help get Lakeshore back in the win column.

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.