Mequon, WI – It was a marathon game between the Chinooks and the Kingfish, but Kenosha outlasted the Chinooks with a 14th inning grand slam in an 11-8 win.
Reliever Adian Wojciehowski was great for the Chinooks after entering in the eighth inning, going six innings and not allowing a run until the tough 14th inning. But after throwing over 110 pitches, Wojciehowski gave up a couple of hits and a walk before Marty Bechina launched a ball to left field for a grand slam and putting the Kingfish in the lead.
Lakeshore’s offense found some early success against Kenosha starting pitcher Cale Cuddie, forcing him to exit after only the first inning. After retiring leadoff hitter DJ Lee, Cuddie allowed five consecutive Chinooks hits. Jack Dunn and Dallas Beaver had back-to-back singles, and Jim Govern drove home Dunn with a single to start the scoring for the Chinooks. Christian Boulware and Dominic Clementi both had RBI singles, pushing the Chinooks in front 3-1. One more would score on a RBI fielder’s choice groundout by Cole Turney, putting the Chinooks up three.
The Chinooks would add two more in their half of the second inning, after a pair of wild pitches allowed Lee to score and Beaver later drove home Dunn to extend the Chinooks lead to 6-1. But after those first two innings, the bats went quiet for the Chinooks and allowed the Kingfish to make a comeback.
Chinooks starting pitcher Nick Campe, who was making his first start of the season after appearing 18 times out of the bullpen, struggled with control over his three innings of work. He allowed five runs, only two earned, on five hits and also five walks.
The Kingfish struck first in the game, scoring one run on a RBI double by Will Wagner. But trailing 6-1 heading to the third, Kenosha started to chip away at the lead.
Lakeshore helped Kenosha’s cause with three errors in a four run third inning that closed the gap to 6-5. The Chinooks outfield made all three errors, allowing the Kingfish to take extra bases and later score in the inning.
One more would score in the fourth inning against Chinooks reliever Carl Renz to tie the game at six apiece. Kingfish catcher Evan McDonald drove in Marty Bechina with a RBI single before Renz was able to limit any more potential damage. Renz also struggled to consistently throw strikes in his four and a third innings, walking five more batters and allowing three hits.
Colton Gordon gave the Kingfish a great performance out of the bullpen, going five and third strong innings and not allowing any runs. He only allowed two hits and walked one and kept the Chinooks from putting anything together offensively.
Lakeshore threatened in the ninth, but left Dunn standing on third base after Jim Govern struck out swinging on a good pitch from Jack Zimmerman to send the game to extra innings.
The Chinooks will travel to Kenosha for the second game of the doubleheader today, with the first pitch coming at 7:05 PM from Simmons Field. Lakeshore will turn to Mason Madalinksi who will be making his first start for the Chinooks and only his second appearance since arriving in Lakeshore recently.
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.
