In the third game of their road trip, the Lakeshore Chinooks (1-2) fell to the Wausau Woodchucks (2-1) 11-5 on Wednesday night at Athletic Park.
The Chinooks got on the board first in this matchup thanks to an RBI single by Daniel Pacella in the top of the first. However, the Woodchucks responded quickly by scoring a run of their own in the bottom of the inning due to a pass ball.
Wausau threatened to score again with a runner on third in the bottom of the second, but Lakeshore starting pitcher Ryan Sell struck out back-to-back batters to fend off the Woodchucks.
The third inning was when Wausau’s offense came to life. Jesse Donohoe started things off with a two-run home run that sailed over the right field fence, giving the Woodchucks a 3-1 lead. Travis Lutz and Davis Newman extended the lead with an RBI sacrifice fly and RBI single respectively to put the Woodchucks up 5-1.
Sell walked a batter with the bases loaded to make the score 6-1, which was when his night ended. Gradin Taschner came in for the Chinooks and threw two wild pitches that allowed two more runs to score. He struck out Michael Maginnis to end the inning, but the damage was done as the Chinooks trailed 8-1 heading into the fourth.
Lakeshore’s offense found itself in the top of the sixth as Everson reached on a walk and Ben Hefel hit a double to put runners on second and third base. Sam Meidenbauer took advantage of this opportunity and hit a double that cleared the bases for the Chinooks, making the score 8-3.
Meidenbauer then scored on a throwing error and the Chinooks cut their deficit to four. After Adam Cootway hit a single and Overbeek drew his third walk of the game, the bases were loaded and the Chinooks found themselves in the position to score once again. However, Lakeshore’s bats went cold as it went into the bottom of the sixth trailing 8-4.
The Woodchucks responded in the bottom half of the inning as Drew Berkland hit a double that scored two runs. Ryan Blanchard then hit an RBI single to make the score 11-4 favoring Wausau.
In the top of the eighth inning, the Chinooks hit four straight singles, but a base running mistake only allowed them to score one run, making the score 11-5.
Despite having many opportunities on offense, the Chinooks could not capitalize on any of them, leading to their second loss of the season.
Overbeek led the way for Lakeshore, going 2-for-2 with a double, single and three walks. Everson also went 2-for-4 at the plate with an RBI and a walk.
The Lakeshore Chinooks will face the Wausau Woodchucks again tomorrow night at 6:35 p.m. CST for the final game of their four-game road trip.
