Mequon, WI – For the first time since July 31st, a Chinooks starting pitcher made it to the fifth inning. But even with a solid start from Kevin Tibor, the Chinooks offense failed to back him up in a 3-1 loss to Battle Creek.
After three consecutive rough starts for Tibor, he was able to get back to his All-Star ways with a quality eight innings against the Bombers. Outside of scoring two in the third and another in the fourth, Battle Creek struggled to put much offense together against Tibor. He only allowed four hits and one walk while striking out six batters. Even with his good start, Tibor fell to 4-7 on the season, but this one could be blamed on a lack of run support.
Tibor’s rare mistakes came in the third inning after Jordan Swiss took a two-out pitch deep to left field to give the Bombers a 2-0 lead. Battle Creek would add one more in the fourth inning on a sacrifice fly by Jalen Thomas after a wild throw to the plate by center field Connor Kimple helped Connor Bailey score.
Lakeshore’s offense was completely silent versus Battle Creek starting pitcher Michael McCraith, who shut them out over eight innings. The Chinooks only managed four hits and three walks against the right-hander, and never truly threatened to score. McCraith had all of his pitches working throughout the night, striking out 10 Chinooks batters.
It was the second consecutive great start for McCraith, who followed threw eight shutout innings back on August 2nd against Wisconsin Rapids. The Junior from Wheaton College has been one of Battle Creek’s best starters this summer, picking up his fifth win on the season and lowering his ERA to 2.63.
It was also an interesting night for Battle Creek’s Zach Gartner. He started the game at catcher, but proceeded to move all around the diamond for the rest of the night. Each inning Gartner moved to a different spot on the field, ending with the mound for the ninth inning.
Gartner wasn’t as successful on the mound, allowing the first two runners to reach base in the ninth. Connor Kimple lead off with a single and DJ Lee drew a walk. After striking out Jim Govern, Ronald Sweeny just missed a home run that drifted foul down the right field line before later drawing a walk to load the bases. Connor Christman drove in the first Chinooks run with a RBI groundout, prompting Battle Creek to go back to the bullpen. But the Chinooks stranded runners on second and third after Sam Kohnle struck out swinging to end the game.
The Chinooks finish up their last two home games of the summer against the Wisconsin Woodchucks. Brandon Komar will get the start for Lakeshore, his fourth of the summer. Komar, has been up and down since being moved to the rotation, posting a couple of solid start mixed in with tough, short outings. The first pitch will be at 6:35 PM.
