By Kevin Mackey

Madison, WI – After a tough loss to the Green Bay Booyah last night at Kapco Park, the Chinooks set out to start a home and home series against the Madison Mallards with the first leg of the series being played in Madison at “The Duck Pond” at Warner Park. Despite leading for a majority of the game, a big inning from the Mallards put them ahead for good.

Jesse Slinger took the mound for the Chinooks in Madison as they head down the home stretch of the season and make a push for the playoffs. A strong 5 inning outing featuring 7 strikeouts put the Chinooks in a strong position to win.

After the Chinooks tied the game in the second, Daryl Myers got the offense started in the third with a double in the gap. A single from Griffin Doersching and a wild pitch scored the go-ahead run and put the Chinooks ahead 2-1. Another single from Ronnie Sweeny III scored another run for the Chinooks.

The Chinooks built a 5-3 lead in the top of the sixth as a fielder’s choice allowed Justin Olson to score from third and a bases-loaded walk gave the Chinooks the two-run lead.

The bottom of the sixth proved as the game-changing inning for both teams. The Chinooks turned to the bullpen as Jarrett Blunt made the appearance for the Chinooks. The inning got off to a tough start as a walk and a single put two runners on for the Mallards. An error from Jake Thompson at second base loaded the bases with no outs and a passed ball started the big inning for the Mallards and a hit by pitch reloaded the bases. Ben Anderson’s two-RBI single gave the Mallards the lead in the bottom of the sixth and the inning did not stop there. A single from Justice Bigbie and a double from Austin Blazevic scored two more runs for Madison and gave them the three-run lead. A one-out single built the Mallards lead to four. Before the inning was over the Mallards had put up 9 runs had taken commanding control of the game.

Chinooks reliever Jarrett Blunt was only able to record one out before being replaced by Joe Roundtree.

Despite the loss, the Chinooks got big contributions from Cole Barr who went 4 for 6 with an RBI and Ronnie Sweeny III who had 2 RBI’s on the night.

The Chinooks have now dropped two in a row and are now 2.5 games out of first place. Lakeshore returns to Kapco Park on Sunday evening to play host to the Madison Mallards with first pitch at 5:05 PM.

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.