Mequon, WI – After a four-game road trip, the Chinooks returned home for two-game series against the Wisconsin Rapids Rafters at Kapco Park looking to revenge two losses to the Rafters earlier this week on the road. The Rafters sit just 3 games behind the Mallards for first place in the Great Lakes West division whereas the Chinooks sit 10.5 games back of the first place Mallards.
Jake Carlson, a recent addition to the roster, got his first start of the season tonight against the Rafters. In his young Chinooks career, Carlson ran into problems in the first inning as Richie Schiekofer singled and stole second to start the game. An RBI single by LSU freshman CJ Willis scored the first run of the game for the Rafters.
After going three up and three down in the first two innings, the Chinooks offense got going in as a single and an error put David Dunn and Savier Pinelas on the base paths. A double steal by Dunn and Pinelas put Chinooks on second and third and Dunn scored on a groundout to second base by Mike Trautwein tying the game up at 1.
Tony Grabowske entered the game in the 5th as Jake Carlson exited his first start of the summer giving up just 4 hits and 1 run in 4.2 innings.
The Chinooks offense came back to life in the bottom of the 6th as Mike Trautwein led off the inning with a single and advanced to second on a groundout to third. Gunner Hellstrom drove in the go ahead run as Trautwein scored. The bases went loaded as Jake Thompson drew a walk and Jake Artz drove in Ronnie Sweeny III as a part of a two run inning for the Chinooks that gave them the 3-1 lead.
Will Klein entered the game with one-out in the 8th looking for a 5 out save.
The Rafters responded in the top of the 8th as a one-out sacrafice fly by Anthony Galason scored Jaylen Guy, but the Chinooks held Peter Matt at second on the play. Despite Peter Matt stealing third, the Chinooks held the Rafters to just one run in the inning cutting the deficit to 3-2.
Despite a couple of walks, Will Klein shut down the Rafters in the top of the 9th securing the 3-2 win for the Chinooks and another save for Klein.
The Chinooks return to Kapco Park tomorrow for game two of the series against the Rafters before setting back out on the road next week. The Chinooks look to build on great pitching in tonights game moving foward in the season as they look to move up in the Great Lakes West Divison. First pitch tomorrow is at 5:05 PM from Kapco Park.
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.
