Mequon, WI– Fond Du Lac traveled to Kapco Park to take on the Lakeshore Chinook in a doubleheader. Ryan Schmit would take the mound for the Chinooks in game one. Ryan Schmit has only faced Fond Du Lac one time this season. The Butler pitcher worked one and two-thirds innings of work back on June 17th. Facing only nine batters, Schmit gave up one run and struck out one in the win.
The Chinooks southpaw would face some early trouble as third baseman, Cole Barr, would make a throwing. error. Schmit would also hit a batter and two runners were on for the Dock Spiders. Lakeshore would make it out of the inning with no runs crossing the plate. Three consecutive ground outs by Lakeshore made life easy for Aaron Ball Jr. in the first.
Schmit would work a clean 1-2-3 inning in his second inning of work. With two outs, it would seem Lakeshore would follow with their own 1-2-3 inning. Mike Trautwein would give the thumbs down to that thought as he drove a single through the middle of the infield. Griffin Doersching would shoot a hard-hit single to left field as Lakeshore would be in business with runners at the corners. David Dunn would come to the plate after getting the previous night off. He would pop out to the right fielder to end the Lakeshore threat.
Schmit would his second “hazard” of the game. With two runners on and no outs, Fond Du Lac looked to start the scoring. The Dock Spiders went for the small ball option as they tried to move both runners over. With Doersching charging, the bunt was rolled right to him and he would make the throw to third for the first out. The following Dock Spider batters would fly out. Gunner Hellstrom would start the inning off with a single. Hellstrom would move up after a wild pitch. With no outs, Lakeshore had a runner in scoring position. Following the single, the next three batters would be sat down. With Lakeshore missing an opportunity to take the lad, the game would move to the fourth.
The Dock Spiders would grab the lead in the fourth after an RBI triple by Charlie Maxwell. Schmit would get back on track as he would retire the next three batters. Two of those outs would be strikeouts. Trautwein walked with two outs and Doersching would bounce out to shortstop to end the two-out rally.
Ryan Schmit would start the fifth off with a walk and that would be all from him. Schmit worked four solid innings while striking out three batters. Jack Pagliarini would take the mound in relief. Zeb Adreon would extend Fond Du Lac’s lead with an RBI double. With one out, Fond Du lac had two runners in scoring position. A sac-fly and an RBI single would push the lead to four. Lakeshore would be retired in order following the 3-run inning by Fond Du Lac.
Pagliarini would settle in the sixth as he retired the Dock Spiders in order. Jake Thompson would be hit by a pitch with one out and Myers would continue his hot hitting with a single past the shortstop. Trautwien, who reached base safely twice before coming to the plate, would beat out an infield single to reach safely for the third straight time. A base running error by Thompson would bail out Fond Du Lac and the Chinooks would go scoreless through six.
The Dock Spiders continued their hitting ways in the top of the seventh as Zack Prajner singled. With one out, Fond Du Lac would load the bases. A pop fly to shortstop, ruled an infield fly, would drop and the runner from third would score. Lakeshore would come to bat trailing 5-0. David Dunn would get things rolling with a single. A throwing error by the shortstop would allow Dunn to move to second. Following the single, Dunn would move to third courtesy of a wild pitch. Hellstrom would walk and Ronnie Sweeny III singled to bring in Dunn. One run is all Lakeshore would muster.
Leading 5-1, Fond Du Lac would look to extend their lead. Pagliarini would record the first two outs and be pulled from the game. Pagliarini would finish with a three and two-thirds innings of work. In those innings he faced seventeen batters and struck out four. Brandon McGuigan would be the third pitcher to take the mound for Lakeshore. He would record the last out and Lakeshore would come to the plate. The Chinooks would be retired in order to move the game to the top of ninth.
The first two Lakeshore batters of the ninth inning would reach base. With no outs, Ronnie Sweeny III would pop out. Cole Barr would get all of a fastball from Kyle Hall as he would trim the lead to one after a 3-run homerun. One out in the inning Jake Thompson would ground out for out number two. After a Daryl Meyers walk, Nathan Aide would single to get the tying run into scoring position. Trautwien, with two strikes, singled to the second baseman to bring in Myers and that tied the game at five. With bases loaded David Dunn would come to the plate. He would strike out and the game moved to extra innings.
In extra innings, teams start with a runner at second. They do this to help the pace of play. With one out, the Dock Spiders would regain the lead. Fond Du Lac call for the hit and run with runners at the corners. A fumbled ground ball by Cole Barr would allow the hit and run to work. The Dock Spiders now led 7-5. Fond Du Lac would tack on another run before being put away David Dunn would take his spot at second as Lakeshore would try to rally in the 10th. It was not to be. Lakeshore would be retired in order and would fall 8-5 in 10 innings.
Game two of the double header is 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 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.
