Mequon, WI – The Lakeshore Chinooks’ eighth season in the Northwoods League came to an end with Sunday’s X-X loss to the Wisconsin Woodchucks. The Chinooks do not qualify for the postseason for the first time since 2015.
The loss to Wisconsin is Lakeshore’s seventh in a row. The Chinooks limped to the finish line, and end the summer with an overall record of 29-42. The Chinooks went just 4-16 in their final 20 games.
The final three games of the season were especially difficult, as the Chinooks were outscored X-X and scored in only 3 of the final 27 innings they played. Lakeshore failed to score during the first seven innings in all three games.
Starting pitcher Clifton Slagel took the loss in the season finale, allowing six runs in 3 1/3 innings. All six runs came across in the fourth inning, as the Woodchucks sent 11 hitters to the plate. In relief, Nick Campe, Mason Madalinski, and Joe Gahm each turned in scoreless outings while Aidian Wojciehowski allowed two runs in the top of the eighth inning.
Lakeshore scored its only run in the bottom of the ninth inning, when Connor Kimple grounded into a double play with the bases loaded to plate a run. The Chinooks recorded just four hits in the game. Kimple collected two of the hits.
Despite the disappointing finish to the season, Dallas Beaver and Jack Dunn were each named to the Northwoods League’s postseason All-Star team before the game. Beaver and Dunn were the two Chinooks to finish the season with batting averages above .300. Dunn led the team with a .316 mark and Beaver followed with a .302 average.
Beaver was the team’s most consistent run producer over the course of the season, leading Lakeshore with 19 doubles, 4 home runs, and 30 runs batted in this summer. Dunn was a spark plug atop the Chinooks’ lineup all summer long, bringing athleticism to the shortstop position, speed on the basepaths, and energy in the dugout.
Campe’s 2 2/3 innings of relief was his team-leading 23rd appearance of the summer. He served in a variety of roles, from closing out games early in the season to making a spot start late in the year to pitching multiple innings at a time in between.
The 2018 Chinooks enjoyed solid starting pitching for much of the beginning of the summer, but the performance of the starters began to gradually erode as the season progressed and the team could never generate enough offense consistently to get the team on a roll.
