Mequon, Wis. — For 6 2/3 innings, the Chinooks managed two hits off Green Bay’s pitching staff.
Two hits in the seventh brought an ounce of momentum yet did not culminate into desired results, even with multiple blanketing waves of fog rolling in from Lake Michigan.
A 2-for-3 performance from third baseman Dalton Doyle provided Lakeshore (2-6) a spark to fill the bases in the fifth while the Chinooks’ lineup, which contained three new additions, remained silent in a 5-0 defeat to Green Bay (3-5).
“Just stick with it,” Chinooks manager Travis Akre said of his postgame message. “With three new guys out there in the lineup again today, I liked what we saw out there. I liked the group that we have out there — a lot of athleticism out there I thought.”
Chinooks starting pitcher Tommy Lamb remained in search of his first win of the season, having relinquishing four earned runs on five hits in his previous start at Madison.
“Well, I got my feet wet in Madison, first start in a long time since my senior year of high school,” Lamb said prior to taking the mound. “Today, it’s really about [being] more efficient in the zone and around the zone; get some more swing-and-misses.”
12 pitches dealt in the brief first frame helped the southpaw plow through the following two, including a bases-loaded jam worked out of in the second.
The homegrown hurler got stuck in an inescapable jam in the fourth, nonetheless.
Despite registering a third strikeout — his eighth on the season — to retire Green Bay cleanup hitter Nick Dagnello, the Oklahoma Sooner immediately watched a solo shot carry over the right field fence of Kapco Park.
Booyah center fielder Nadir Lewis laced an RBI single to right field, scoring third baseman Preston Hall and forcing Akre to signal for relief.
“I thought in the first outing he threw almost too many strikes,” Akre said on the difference between Lamb’s first and second starts. “Tonight he [gave] a couple free passes that hurt him, and that was kind of the difference maker. I felt like he just didn’t have complete command of his stuff and the few balls that he left over the plate got hit pretty hard, and that’s what put them in a situation to score a couple of runs.”
Three quick outs in the bottom of the fourth sent out Chinooks reliever Austin Edwards with a 2-0 deficit, though a turned 5-3 double play eliminated Green Bay’s fifth-inning threat.
Igniting a spark for the first time since right fielder Jackson Gray’s two-out single in the first, Doyle knocked a single to center field to place Lakeshore’s first runner in scoring position. A passed ball added another as designated hitter Ethan Vecrumba moved to third.
Center fielder Collin Mathews, who finished 1-for-3 in his Chinooks debut, worked a two-out walk to load the bases for the only time on the night.
But even first baseman Griffin Doersching’s hard-hit ball to right field surrounded by intense fog couldn’t help Lakeshore, as the Northwoods League’s home run leader saw it fall short of leaving the yard.
“That’s the guy that we want up, and Griffin put a good swing on it,” Akre said. “Griffin had some really good at-bats, I mean he hit four balls really hard tonight, and unfortunately didn’t have anything to show for it.”
Tallying just three total walks, the struggle remained for the Chinooks’ lineup to put together base hits. Booyah reliever Jacob Riordan held his opponent without a hit or walk through the sixth.
“In this little bad stretch here, we’re just not getting all three facets of the game down and once we get that, we’ll be fine,” Akre said. “It seems like every night, we got one out of the three, or the two out of the three. We just gotta play a complete game to start getting this thing rolling.”
Though reliever Connor Langreder garnered the win, the third and final Booyah pitcher gave Lakeshore breathing room in the seventh, in spite of Dagnello’s two-run double in the top half of the frame.
Doyle singled up the middle and Mathews provided a single to left field, as it had appeared the Chinooks were poised to reduce the 5-0 score.
Another runner stood in scoring position, but Doersching lined out to left field to leave two leave two runners aboard.
The eighth inning offered some hope, as left fielder Nathan Aide’s only hit of the night gave Lakeshore a runner on first base in the eighth. Vecrumba’s swinging strikeout stranded the Chinooks’ ninth and final runner, given an empty ninth inning.
Two-way player Brennen Bales tossed the final frame, holding the Booyah hitless and with no walks.
Lamb surrendered two earned runs on five hits and five walks through four innings, taking the loss.
The Chinooks begin a two-game road trip to Kalamazoo Tuesday. First pitch is scheduled for 5:35 p.m.