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Published On: July 6th, 2018

 

Mequon, WI – After a fast start for the Chinooks, good pitching performances from starting pitcher Kyle Schmitt and the bullpen behind him held off the Woodchucks for a 4-3 win.

Woodchucks starting pitcher Orsen Josephina labored through his shortest start of the season, only completing one inning against the Chinooks. Jack Dunn led off with a single and stole second base. With one out, Turner Buis singled to left field, scoring Dunn, and a throwing error allowed him to advance to third. Griffin Dey reached on an infield single, scoring Buis from third. With two outs, Ronnie Sweeny III singled to score Dey, increasing the Chinooks lead to 3-0.

Wisconsin turned the game over to Sam Ballard in the second inning, but he was only able to get one out. He walked four batters, allowing one run, before exiting with the bases loaded. Frank Frate entered the game and got Jim Govern to bounce into a double play, thanks to a fantastic diving play by second baseman Brandt Broussard.

With the 4-0 game after the second inning, Kyle Schmitt was tasked with preserving the Chinooks lead. The Woodchucks were able to get two in the third inning on a two-out double by Zach DeLoach that found grass in between Jack Dunn and Cole Turney. Wisconsin made it a 4-3 game in the sixth after a RBI single by Alex Toral, and Schmitt was relieved for Clayton Slifer.

Schmitt picked up his first win of the season in his first start, giving the Chinooks five and two-thirds solid innings. He allowed three runs on six hits, with three walks and six strikeouts.

After scoring in the first two innings, the Chinooks offense went quiet for the rest of the night. Woodchucks reliever Frank Frate had a fantastic performance, pitching five and two-thirds shutout innings, only allowing one hit and striking out five. While he did walk three batters, Frate was able to mitigate any potential damages throughout the night.

Lakeshore was able to put runners on base in every inning, but struggled to bring them around to score. The Chinooks stranded 11 men on base, including three in the second inning, and two in both the first and fourth innings.

With the 4-3 lead in the eighth inning, the Chinooks decided to turn the game over the Luis Ferrer. He pitched the last two innings of the game, earning his first save of the season. He struck out four of the six batters he faced and continued to be one of the most effective Chinooks out of the bullpen, lowering his ERA to a fantastic 1.25.

The Chinooks and Woodchucks will face off again tomorrow evening with the first pitch coming at 6:35 PM. Nate Odahl (3-2, 3.73 ERA) will get the start for the Chinooks as they look to continue their undefeated start to the second half of the Northwoods League season.

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.