Mequon, WI- The Lakeshore Chinooks (17-16) defeated the Rockford Rivets in dominant fashion Sunday afternoon, putting up 16 runs in a 16-1 beatdown. Chinooks’ starter, Tyler Jandron (Northwood), continued to impress, tossing six shutout innings.
The Chinooks would get the scoring started in the top of the 1st, starting with a Nick Gatewood (Georgia State) RBI single. The rocket up the middle scored Matthew Mika (Central Florida) after he led off the inning with a walk.
The bottom of the 3rd inning featured Lakeshore piling on 7 runs to its lead. Matthew Mika doubled to the left-center gap, which plated Drake Lubin (Eastern Michigan) after he led off the inning with a double. After the Chinooks loaded up the bases, Nick Gatewood hit a tailor-made double play ball to the second baseman, but a poor throw to the shortstop covering 2nd base allowed Matthew Mika and Joe Duncan (Eastern Illinois) to score.
Jacob Richardson (Southern Arkansas) followed up Gatewood with a ball driven to deep left field that the left fielder was camped under, but he wasn’t able to squeeze it in his glove. The error allowed Rylan Thomas (Central Florida) to score, which gave the Chinooks a 5-0 lead. TJ Raguse (Baylor) then grounded out, allowing Nick Gatewood to score.
Daniel DeSimone (Oklahoma State) then hit a sacrifice fly to right-center, allowing Jacob Richardson to score. Drake Lubin followed up DeSimone with an infield single, which brought home Owen Miller (Illinois State). Nick Gatewood then doubled, bringing home Joe Duncan.
Jacob Richardson later tapped a ball back to the mound that should have been an easy out, but the pitcher couldn’t field the ball cleanly and threw it off-target in an attempt to cut down the runner at home. As a result, Rylan Thomas came home on the play and gave the Chinooks their 10th run of the game. Owen Miller then grounded into a double play, but Nick Gatewood was able to score on the play, giving the Chinooks an 11-0 lead.
Lakeshore flashed its strength in the bottom of the 5th, with Rylan Thomas and Nick Gatewood hitting back-to-back home runs. Matthew Mika and Joe Duncan both walked to start out the inning, with Rylan Thomas driving them in on a 3-run bomb to left field. Nick Gatewood then hit a deep homer to right field, giving the Chinooks a 15-0 lead.
The Chinooks would tack on another run in the bottom of the 6th. Daniel DeSimone led off the inning with a single, and Matthew Mika later grounded out, plating DeSimone.
The Rivets would get on the board in the top of the 8th thanks to a solo home run off the bat of Neal Tyrell that was crushed over the left field patio.
Chinooks’ starter, Tyler Jandron, cruised through 6 innings of work, allowing just 4 hits and 4 walks over 6 shutout innings. Jandron also struck out 9 Rockford batters.
After the start, Jandron said, “I felt pretty good, I struggled locating my pitches right away, but I kind of settled in in the second and third. I was a little tight in the beginning, but I just kept my composure and didn’t really force too much and just tried to continue pounding the zone.”
Jandron was also happy to have his offense show up the way it did. “[The offense] was huge. Once they score that first run, I try to keep them there and try to hold zeros for them. Obviously, I’m gonna give up hits and runs, but once they put up that first run, I can mellow in and settle down and just throw my game.”
The Lakeshore Chinooks (17-16) head to Kalamazoo to take on the Growlers Monday night, with Austin Havekost taking the ball for a 6:05 first pitch.
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.
