Green Bay, WI— The Lakeshore Chinooks defeated the Green Bay Bullfrogs 15-9 on Sunday evening to improve to 12-14 on the season and break out of a two-game losing skid.
From the start, it was an offensive display of force from both teams, but a late inning surge from the Chinooks—including an eight-run ninth inning—sent the heart-broken Bullfrogs hopping back home.
The Chinooks bats were bolstered early by Nick Gatewood who, in the bottom of the first, launched a 1-0 fastball that Bullfrog starter, Terell McCall, left sitting up in the zone for his second home run of the season.
"Somedays you're just seeing it well," Gatewood said. "I've been swinging it well the past couple games and it just all came together tonight."
But, the 2-0 Chinooks lead wouldn't last long. The Bullfrog lead-off hitter, Alonzo Jones, who was a menace all night, led off with a single and was quickly brought around to score after Tanner Poole laced a liner into the right-centerfield gap. Then, Poole, after an error on a pick-off move by Chinook starter, Alec Marsh, tied things up at two apiece after the first inning.
The scoring picked up again in the third. With two-outs, Chinook outfielder Joe Duncan took a first pitch fastball and grounded it right past the Bullfrog shortstop to get things started. Then, Rylan Thomas, who continued his twelve game hitting streak dating back to his first game with the team, knocked him home to regain the lead and was brought around by a Gatewood double to make it 4-2.
But, just like the first, the Bullfrogs jumped right back by scoring three in the bottom of the third to take a 5-4 lead.
The Lakeshore offense wasn't discouraged. In the top of the fourth, Matt Burch led off with a double, and even though Drake Lubin was up against the wall with two outs and a 1-2 count, he delivered by driving in Burch with a line-drive single to right.
Once Lubin got on first, he didn't stay there long. On a 2-0 count, he stole second—his eighth of the season and one of two on the day—and used his speed to score on a Matthew Mika single to make it 6-5 Chinooks after four.
The Chinooks would hold the lead until the seventh, that’s when the frogs Alonzo Jones cashed in on Grant Frazer’s lead-off triple to tie things up at 7.
Things got even worse for Lakeshore in the bottom of the eighth. Alonzo Jones—again—came up with a clutch two-out, two-RBI triple to give Green Bay a 9-7 lead going into the ninth.
That’s when the Chinooks exploded. Using RBI’s by Jacob Richardson, Matt Burch and Jack Dunn, and a bevy or errors by the Bullfrog defense, the Chinooks unloaded for a massive eight-run ninth to all but assure their twelfth victory of the summer.
"It was pretty big to get some momentum and confidence [tonight]," Gatewood said.
The Chinooks will hope to take that momentum into tomorrow when the return to Kapco Park to battle the Bullfrogs in game two of their two-game home and home series. Tyler Jandron takes the hill for first pitch at 6:35!
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.