Madison, Wis. — It’s safe to say that Wednesday was not the brightest day for the Chinooks. 

Lakeshore (10-17) fell victim to a combined no-hitter, in which they lost 5-0 to the Madison Mallards (15-11). It was the first no-hitter in the Northwoods League since 2018 and the first-ever at Warner Park. 

“You would think that after an off day and a tough loss a few days ago, you would come out with some fire, but tonight we just didn’t seem to have it,” said Chinooks Assistant Coach, Keith Ritsche. “I thought their pitchers actually did a really good job tonight. They really kept us off-balance,” Ritsche said. 

Three pitchers toed the rubber for the Mallards, two of them [Sam Vomhof and Kade Lancour] being teammates from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. The trio, including Eliot Turnquist, dazzled the crowd as they combined for 13 strikeouts. 

However, up until the seventh inning, pitchers from both teams dominated. For Lakeshore, Ryan Jungbauer garnered the start for the first time since his one inning outing on July 25. The Waterford, Wisconsin native worked out of several bases-loaded jams to position his team for success despite five walks. 

“He’s got a really good fastball,” said Ritsche when asked about his starter’s performance. “And all the coaches thought he was getting away from it a little too much and was trying to throw his breaking ball a little too much. I thought he did a great job tonight although he walked a few guys…still kept us in the ball game, that is all you can ask for.” 

In the third, the Chinooks had their scoring chances following a Riley Swenson walk that landed him on first base. Moments later, Chinooks new arrival Dylan Pardoe dribbled a playable ball to the Mallards second baseman, who overthrew second on a double-play attempt, allowing Swenson to move to third and Pardoe to reach second. 

With two runners in scoring position, shortstop Mack Timbrook struck out and Griffin Doersching flew out to first. Six Lakeshore runners were left on base over the course of the night. 

“We had a few chances early with guys on base in the third inning, second and third [with] one out,” Ritsche said. “We got to be able to move the runner in and maybe that would have been able to propel us a little bit. But when we don’t drive guys in like that it’s easy to have the same story over a nightly basis.”

Heading into the seventh inning, the scoreboard read zero, but the story quickly changed over the next nine batters. It was no longer a pitching dual, more so a one-sided affair. 

Lakeshore’s Luis Canez toed the rubber in the seventh and was responsible for the four runs and five hits that quickly nailed the coffin shut in favor of the Mallards. 

“Overall, we thought he threw the ball really well,” Ritsche said. “The guys he hit, I mean, he was trying to throw his slider, which is his best pitch but it just kind of got away from him a little bit. We didn’t have a guy covering on the bunt before that, so he did a good job fielding his position.”

“Tonight we just kind of let it go,” Ritsche added. “Everyone knows what happened tonight. We will reassess before BP tomorrow [Thursday]. 

Lakeshore is back at home Thursday for the beginning of a home-and-home series with the Rockford Rivets. The first pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m.