Mequon, Wis.– The Lakeshore Chinooks (0-1) were unable to mount any offense, getting shutout 8-0 by the Green Bay Booyah (1-0).
With the second half of the season starting, each Northwoods League team’s record reset as each team is given another chance at competing for a playoff spot. The Lakeshore Chinooks are amongst the teams looking to take advantage of the second half’s new life, though they failed to get off to the start they were hoping for Tuesday night.
Lakeshore catcher Josh Glenn tallied the Chinooks first base knock of the game in the second inning. Unfortunately for Glenn and the rest of the Lakeshore lineup, his second inning hit was one of two hits the offense had all game.
“We just gotta play some good baseball.” Glenn said. “Today kind of got away from us, took some big hacks when the yard wasn’t quite playing for big hacks. Tomorrow is a new day and that’s the great thing about the Woods[Northwoods League], we get to do it all over again.”
A shutout loss at home stings for all involved. Though Glenn and the Chinooks feel optimistic about their second chance. In the dugout, the new team motto was written on the wall, “July Nooks.” Field manager Travis Akre and his team were not satisfied with the ending to their first half of the season, in which they finished with a 16-18 record, finishing in fourth place in the Great Lakes West division.
“We’ve been going by this motto, “July Nooks.” Hitting coach Bladen Bales said. “June is over with and it’s not the June we wanted to have and it’s time to turn it over now, the second half is supposed to be ours. A lot of it is just getting out there and competing every pitch every time we are up at the dish we are competing for ourselves and for the guy next to us. It’s all about competition, you can’t let one bad swing or one bad day ruin the rest of your at bats.”
The July Nooks found themselves in a 1-0 hole early after starting pitcher Ben Riffe allowed three hits in the opening frame.
Riffe’s struggles on the mound continued in the top of the third inning, allowing four consecutive Booyah hitters to reach base and the Green Bay growing to two. After getting into this jam with no outs, Akre went to his bullpen, lifting Riffe for Joe Glassey.
Glassey was unable to stop the bleeding in the top of the frame, allowing two more Green Bay runs to score on a walk and a soft ground out to first base. From here, the wheels fell off for the Chinooks as another Green Bay runner scored on an error from first baseman Stephen Hrustich.
Glassey pitched the bulk of Tuesday’s night’s loss, throwing four complete innings while allowing three earned runs on five hits.
The four run inning and 5-0 early lead for the Booyah turned out to be insurmountable for the struggling Lakeshore bats who were unable to keep the game close due to a phenomenal outing from Booyah pitcher Mykel Page.
Only amounting two total hits in the ballgame, Lakeshore’s offense was stymied by Green Bay’s Page, who only allowed two hits to the 30 batters he faced. Page finished Tuesday night’s start throwing eight shutout innings and striking out three Chinooks along the way. The Southern University and A&M College right-hander was named the Northwoods League Pitcher of the Night for his performance.
In a night scarce of Lakeshore highlights, relief pitchers Jason DeCicco and Jacob Henderson combined for three shutout innings late in the ballgame, offering the Chinooks lineup a chance at a late comeback.
DeCicco completed his second and final inning of work Tuesday allowing no runs on four hits, his second consecutive shutout performance on the mound as well as Henderson’s second consecutive shutout outing.
Green Bay’s Joseph Hettinger relieved Page in the bottom of the ninth inning, completing the 8-0 shutout for the Booyah.
Lakeshore looks to earn their first win of the second half Wednesday night in the second game of their six game homestand. Wednesday night is Ghostbusters Night at Kapco Park presented by Marcus Theatres. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m.
