Mequon, WI – Kevin Tibor tied his season high by retiring 18 consecutive batters, leading the Chinooks to 9-4 win over the Wisconsin Rapids Rafters.
Tibor was fantastic over seven innings, only allowing two Rafters to reach base. After Steven Rivas led of the game with a single, Tibor settled in and shut down the Rafters offense until allowing a leadoff single in the seventh inning to Ty Duvall. The Chinooks right-hander struck out four and walked none.
“He filled up the zone,” Manager Travis Akre said in regards to Tibor’s outing. “He threw a lot of strikes. Had great command.”
After scoring eight runs in the loss on Sunday, the Chinooks offense continued to heat up as they added nine in the win on Tuesday. It was the first game since June 8th against Rockford in which the Chinooks outhit their opponents, a testament to their recent struggles at the plate.
“Talked to the guys about trying to clean up their approach,” Akre said about the recent offensive changes. “Trying to create action and they did a better job tonight putting the ball in play and forcing them to play defense. We want to try and play our game and be in control.”
While the Chinooks offense was able to put together 12 hits, the Rafters helped their efforts by committing seven errors in the field. Both of Lakeshore’s runs in the first inning were a product of three errors with an infield single by Dallas Beaver as well. The Chinooks added two more in the third inning after Sebastian Holte-Mancera led off with a double. Connor Kimple drove him home, advanced to second on another Rafters error, and later scored on a Turner Buis single to extend the lead to 4-0.
Two more runs scored for the Chinooks in each of the fourth and sixth inning, extending the lead to 8-0. Rafters starting pitcher Brecken Lewis finished five innings before turning the game over to the bullpen, allowing six runs and seven hits. However, only three of those six runs were credited as earned runs for Lewis due to the struggling defense behind him.
Beaver continued to swing the bat well for the Chinooks, adding a seventh inning home run off of Josh Aguilar to push the game to 9-0. Beaver has raised his batting average to .250 on the season, going 5-12 in his last three games with a couple of RBI and two runs scored.
Wisconsin Rapids were able to break through in the ninth inning scoring four times. Three walks loaded the bases and pinch hitter Ethan Stringer doubled clearing the bases. Jake Dunham singled driving home Stringer before a groundout by Jack-Thomas Wold ended the game.
The Chinooks will head up to Wisconsin Rapids to take on the Rafters for the second game of the home and home series. Austin Jones will get the ball for the Chinooks tomorrow with the first pitch coming at 7:05 PM.
The Lakeshore Chinooks are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. Now in its 25th anniversary season, the Northwoods 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 190 former Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS), two-time World Series Champions Ben Zobrist (CHC) and Brandon Crawford (SFG) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (BOS), Jordan Zimmermann (DET) and Curtis Granderson (TOR). 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.
