The Lakeshore Chinooks (8-12) had a one-run lead heading into the bottom of the eighth, but a three-run home run was the difference in a 7-5 loss to the Green Bay Rockers (13-8) on Monday night at Capital Credit Union Park.
Lakeshore continued where they left off from last night’s ninth inning comeback win. They got things started with a leadoff walk and then an RBI double courtesy of new guy Hunter Grimes to give Lakeshore the early 1-0 advantage.
Green Bay didn’t waste any time responding in their half of the first. Cooper Kelly got things rolling with a leadoff double, and later scored on an RBI groundout by Carlos Hernandez to tie things up at 1-1.
Nate Mieszkowski answered in the top of the second with a big home run to right field, his first of the season to put the Chinooks back in front 2-1.
After Avery Owusu-Asiedu walked and stole second and third, the Chinooks tacked on another run thanks to a Brady Counsell RBI single to extend the lead to 3-1.
The story of the game was the two-out hitting for Green Bay and that started in the bottom of the third. The Rockers cashed in on a two-run homer from JoJo Jackson to even things up again at 3-3.
In the bottom of the fourth, the Rockers would take their first lead of the game due to a Cooper Kelly two-out RBI single to put them out in front 4-3.
However, Lakeshore had an answer of their own in the top of the fifth. Joey Spence delivered an RBI double down the left field line to tie things back up again at 4-4. Brady Counsell followed up with his second RBI single of the day to score Spence and make it 5-4 in favor of Lakeshore.
Blake Kunz got the start for Lakeshore and pitched five innings, allowing four runs on seven hits. Kunz was relieved in the sixth by Gradin Taschner, and in the bottom of the seventh he recorded a massive strikeout with the bases loaded to get out of the jam.
Lakeshore took a slim one-run lead into the bottom of eighth when relief pitcher Liam Stumpf entered the game. Carlos Hernandez stepped up for the Rockers, and with two-outs he launched a three-run home run to give the Rockers the win 7-5.
The Chinooks struggled to get the third out multiple times in this game and it hurt them in the end. Lakeshore finished with eight hits on the day and five walks. Counsell had another really strong day at the plate as he went 2-for-5 with two RBI’s. Owusu-Asiedu tallied three stolen bases as well for the Chinooks.
The Chinooks will look to end the road trip with a win tomorrow against the Rockers. First pitch from Capital Credit Union Park is set for 6:35 p.m. CST.
