On a rainy night at Moonlight Graham Field, the Lakeshore Chinooks (6-9) were looking to snap their three-game losing streak. They were unable to do that on Tuesday night, falling 6-1 to the Wisconsin Rapids Rafters (9-6).
“It’s just a winnable ballgame,” Lakeshore field manager Trevor Cho said. “(We) maybe did one or two things throughout the game that didn’t go our way and came back to bite us in the end. The whole losing streak, they haven’t been blowouts, they’ve been all winnable baseball games. We just have to figure it out together.”
The Rafters’ offense got going early in this game. Jack Gurevitch drew a leadoff walk to put a runner on first base. He advanced to second on a fielder’s choice and eventually scored after Logan Hugo tripled to deep right center field. Jorge De Goti singled to right field to score another run, putting Wisconsin Rapids up 2-0 heading into the bottom half of the inning.
Wisconsin Rapids struck again in the top of the third inning. Cody Bahl, Lakeshore’s starting pitcher, loaded the bases after committing a fielding error, giving up a single to Brandon Rogers and hitting a batter. Gurevitch then hit a one-out RBI sac fly to extend the Rafters’ lead to three.
The Rafters continued to pile on runs in the sixth inning. Gradin Taschner, the Chinooks’ reliever, walked the leadoff batter, Levi Jensen, who then stole second to get into scoring position. With two out, Taschner walked another batter, putting runners on first and third after Jensen stole once more. Lakeshore’s catcher, Joey Spence, tried to throw out the runner stealing second, which allowed the runner on third to score, putting Wisconsin Rapids up 4-0.
The visiting team added to their lead once more in the seventh. With one out, De Goti singled to left field to put a runner on for the Rafters. In the next play, Taeg Gollert bobbled a hard groundball at third base, committing an error and putting runners on first and second. Rogers then singled to left, which plated a run and put Wisconsin Rapids up 5-0.
In the top of the ninth, Wisconsin Rapids earned its sixth run of the night. It started with a two-out single by Rogers, marking his third hit of the game. Danny Sheeler then came in to pinch hit and did his job, singling to center field and making the score 6-0.
Lakeshore managed to get one run across in the bottom of the ninth. After getting two quick outs, Andy Nelson walked and advanced to second on a balk. Drew Townsend then hit an infield single to put runners on first and third. Nelson was then able to score on a wild pitch. The Chinooks would not score anymore, leading to their fourth straight loss.
Gollert and Gabe Roessler led the offense tonight with both combining for four of the Chinooks’ six total hits.
Cho said that Roessler was one of the first players he wanted on his roster this season.
“I saw him play one game at the World Series in Enid (Oklahoma) at Madison College where I used to coach,” Cho said. “I walked away and said, ‘Man, that’s my favorite Madison College player that I’ve ever seen. (He’s an) energizer bunny, good actions at short and he can do a lot at the top of the order. He can do a lot of things for any baseball team.”
With the Northwoods League off day tomorrow, the Lakeshore Chinooks will be back in action on Thursday night, facing off against the Madison Mallards at Moonlight Graham Field. First pitch is set for 6:35 p.m. CST.
“I told everybody to stay away from the field, do something fun in town,” Cho said about the off day. “It’s coming at the perfect time for this team. In terms of travel around the league, we had one of the hardest go arounds. It’s just going to be a good reset.”
