By Deann Davidson
Madison, WI – After a weather delay, the Chinooks faced Madison in two games on Thursday and lost both games by a one-run margin.
In the first game, the Chinooks scored in the top of the first. Cameron Hart hit a leadoff double and then scored on a single by Austin Murr to make it 1-0. The Mallards answered quickly though. Chinooks’ starting pitcher Trevor Tietz issued a leadoff walk to E.J. Ranel. Ben Anderson then reached on an error by Griffin Doersching. With one out, Tietz gave up his second walk of the inning, loading the bases for Madison. Logan Michaels delivered for Mallards, driving in two runs with a double to give Madison a one-run lead over Lakeshore.
In the third, Justin Olson reached first on balls but the next two batters were unable to advance him. Doersching came up big for the Chinooks with a two-run homer to make it a 3-2 game. The Chinooks would not keep the lead for long. Anderson singled to lead off the inning and then scored when Justice Bigbie hit an RBI-double. Michaels once again drove in a run for Madison with his second double of the game, giving the Mallards the leads once again.
The Chinooks got runners on early in the fifth after Trevor Marreel gave up three walks in a row, loading the bases. The Mallards relived Marreel with Deylen Miley who hit Ross Messina with a pitch and allowing Lakeshore to tie the game at four.
The Chinooks took a two-run lead in the sixth after a single by Hart and a double by Olson, putting runners on second and third. Doersching was intentionally walked, loading the bases. Savier Pinales worked a four-pitch walk, scoring Hart. Trent Bauer followed with an RBI-single to give the Chinooks a 6-4 lead over Madison. Madison would add another run in the sixth after sacrifice fly scored Wiley.
The Mallards took a 7-6 lead after back-to-back home runs from Benefield and Wade Stauss. The Chinooks were unable to answer and dropped the first game 7-6.
The second game of the double header was much closer than the first. For the Chinooks, starting pitcher Ryan Dauman pitched four scoreless innings, giving up five hits and issuing two walks. Dauman was followed by Ryan Schmit who pitched 1 1/3 innings, giving up only one hit. Aj Archambo pitched seven scoreless innings for the Mallards, giving up four hits and two walks while tallying 8 strikeouts.
Madison created traffic throughout the game, but the Chinooks defense answered. After giving up a leadoff walk, Lakeshore turned a double-play to get Dauman out of a small jam.
In the fifth, the Chinooks had a chance to score first. With two outs, Mike Trautwein singled. Jeff Holtz then reached and advanced to second on an error by Mallards’ third baseman and Trautwein took third. However, the runners were stranded after a flyout to center. In the bottom of the inning, Madison loaded the bases, but the game remained scoreless.
The Mallards loaded the bases again in the bottom of the 7th after an error by Jake Thompson, a single from Austin Blazevic, and a walk issued by Will Klein. Klein got himself out of trouble by striking out the next three batters.
Lakeshore went down in order in the eighth. Benefield advanced to third for the Mallards with no outs. Logan Michaels grounded out to second baseman Pinales and then Jordan Stephens struck out swinging. However, the Mallards walked it off and won 1-0, taking both of the games.
With these losses, the Chinooks fall to 5-13 and are 8.5 games behind the Madison Mallards in the Great Lakes West division. They return to Kapco Park tomorrow night for a battle against the Fond du lac Dock Spiders.
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 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.
