Mequon, WI- The Lakeshore Chinooks would take on the Wisconsin Rapids Rafters once again, but they would face the Rafters at home this time around. This would mark a quick two-game set at home before heading out on a six-game road trip. Previously, the Chinooks split the previous road trip against the Rafters.
Currently, the Chinooks are seven games back of the division leading Madison Mallards. The Chinooks are still working on fixing the defensive struggles they have been having over the past few games. On June 6th, the last road game for the Chinooks, they committed three errors. The Chinooks would be looking to fix their recent defensive and offense struggles and look to get their first home win of the season.
Lakeshore would send Trevor Tietz to the mound to face the Rafters in the opening game of the series. Tietz would start the game off by retiring the first three batters. The Chinooks would follow the Rafters by getting one man on and threating to score on a throwing error by the shortstop. Following the error, the Chinooks would leave the runner stranded.
Chinooks pitcher Trevor Tietz would go on to work a quick second inning and the Chinooks would get another chance to cross the plate for the first time of the night. The Chinooks would be retired in order and failed to get the offense working in their half of the second inning.
The Rafters would strike first with a booming home run by Rich Ciufo into “Robins Nest” in left field. Tietz would follow the home run by retiring the next two batters. The Rafters would threaten again by shooting a single into the outfield and following an error by the Chinooks shortstop. Tietz would get a fly ball and would avoid a disastrous third inning. The Chinooks would threaten again with a walk by Torres. Torres would steal second base, but that is all Lakeshore’s offense could muster in the inning.
Trevor Tietz continued to work quickly in the fourth, putting the Rafters down in order. In the fourth inning, Lakeshore was able put more pressure on the Rafters pitcher. Griffin Doersching began the inning with a walk and Justin Olson would walk too. After a fly out, Cameron Hart drove in Lakeshore’s first run of the night with a huge double. Jake Malec would ground out to second and drive in another run for the Chinooks. Lakeshore would have a 2-1 lead going into the fifth inning. Tietz would retire the first batter of the fifth. A couple hits for the Rafters allowed them to pressure Tietz and they would tie the game at two. Tietz was able to escape the inning without only giving up one run. The Chinooks were put down in order in the bottom of the fifth.
Tietz was back out to work in the sixth and he was able to retire the first batter of the inning. The following batters were able to reach base courtesy of a single and walk. That would be all for Tietz. Tietz final line was 5.1 inning pitched, two earned runs, one strike out and two walks.
Aaron Ras would come in to work relief for the Chinooks. Ras would maneuver his way through the inning and was able to get the Chinooks out of danger by forcing the Rafters to ground into a double play. Chinook, Justin Olson would walk to reach base in the bottom of the sixth. A double play would end the Chinooks chance of taking the lead.
Ras would be back out to work the seventh inning and he would continue to shut down Wisconsin Rapids batters. Ras would retire the first two batters by having a ground ball hit to him and striking out the second batter of the inning. A single Josh Nicoloff would be the only action for Wisconsin Rapids in their side of the seventh. Jake Dunham would fly out to end their side of the seventh.
Jake Malec would get the action started for the Chinooks in the seventh by driving a single to the outfield. He would advance to second on a wild pitch and Nathan Torres would single and that moved Malec to third with only one out in the inning. Savier Pinales would come up and hit a sacrifice fly to center field to give the Chinooks the lead. That would be all for the Chinooks in the seventh.
In the eighth, Ras would go to work on the mound once more. He would retire the side and record two strikeouts while completing a masterpiece of relief. The Chinooks would try and add insurance runs in their half of the eighth inning. Griffin Doersching would draw a walk to begin the eighth. The following three batters would all record outs to get the Rafters out of the inning and leave Doersching stranded.
In the top of ninth inning, Will Klein be called upon to save the game for the Chinooks. Ras’ final stat line was 2.2 innings pitched and three strikeouts. Will Klein, a hard throwing lefty, made quick work of the first two Rafter batters. With two outs, the Rafters were able to draw contact off of Klein and the Rafters had one runner on base with two outs. The Rafters tried to get the runner on first into scoring position by having him steal, but he was caught stealing and that ended the ballgame.
Will Klein got the save for the Chinooks and Aaron Ras received the win for the ballgame. Tonight’s game really showed this team can battle and they’ve got heart. They really showed grit and grinded through this game. The Chinooks are back in the win column and look to sweep the Wisconsin Rapids Rafters at home. First pitch is tomorrow night at 6:35 p.m.
The Lakeshore Chinooks are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. The Northwoods League is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 22 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, over 200 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 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.
