After two games against Fond du Lac, one home and one away, the Chinooks find themselves on a two-game losing skid entering Saturday’s game. In this one, Lakeshore(8-11) took on Madison(11-8), looking to close in on the Mallard’s two-game lead for first place in the Great Lakes West Division. After nine innings of baseball, the Chinooks lost a close one, 4-3.
Michael Carpenter was starting on the mound tonight. Carpenter got his second start for the Chinooks tonight against a potent Madison offense and would have the job of slowing down the 6th best team in terms of RBI in the Northwoods League. The last time these two teams met was July 12th, with the Chinooks losing a heartbreaker with the final score being 6-5.
In the first two innings, Madison put a runner on second in both the first and second inning. But Carpenter and the Chinooks kept the Mallards at bay. Through two innings, this game was scoreless, which may not have been a good sign as the Chinooks have combined four runs in the previous two games, so getting the offensive going was critical for the Chinooks in this one.
Carpenter got off to a hot start; within the first three innings, he had five strikeouts and only three hits allowed. Yet, Jake Hilton, the Mallards starter, had four strikeouts of his own against the Chinooks lineup. Carpenter’s day went four innings before he was taken out. In his day outing, Carpenter was productive. Although he allowed runners to get on board, no runner reached third base under his watch.
Logan Dobberstein came in to replace Carpenter for the start of the fifth inning. Up to this point, neither team had put up a run. Although each squad managed to get runners on base, no runner had stepped foot on the third base bag.
Madison broke the 0-0 stalemate in the top of the fifth with the game’s first run. Scoring that run was Davis Hamilton, who got on base with a walk. After stealing second, Hamilton got driven in by Nick Williams, who smashed an RBI double to left field. With one out, and a 1-0 lead, Madison had runners on first and second, looking to do more damage. However, Dobberstein fended off the Mallard’s offense, so entering the bottom of the fifth, the Chinooks trailed by a run.
The Chinooks offense came alive in the bottom of the sixth. Things got started with a single by Grant Ross that put the DH on first. Ross then made his way to third after stealing second and third. With one out, the Chinooks had runners on third and first with Matthew Deprey at the plate. Deprey hit a ball deep into right field that appeared to be a home run but would be ruled an RBI ground-rule double. The RBI double-tied the game at one apiece. Joey Spence kept the Chinook’s offensive rolling with a 2 RBI single that scored Deprey and Jacob Nelson, but more importantly, gave the Chinooks a 3-1 lead.
The Mallards came right back at the Chinooks in the top of the seventh. With Lawrence Gallo on the mound, the Mallards loaded the bases with one out. A wild pitch sent one Mallards run home, and the visiting team now trailed by a run with the score being 3-2. The Mallards again loaded the bases after a Jackson Tucker walk. Up next came Keenan Taylor, who hit a ball hard to third basemen Jacob Nelson that Nelson couldn’t quite field. Two Mallards runners came home on the play allowing Madison to take a 4-3 lead.
Entering the bottom of the ninth, the Chinooks remained down a run with the Mallards in front with the same 4-3 lead they’ve held since the top of the seventh. Sam Hojnar and Will Johannes went down quickly for the first two inning outs. Although, a Drew Townsend walk kept the Chinooks alive and put the game-tying run on first. Trey Becker took another walk to keep the Chinooks walk-off hopes alive. Unfortunately, Grant Ross grounded out to end the game, and the Chinooks dropped a third game in a row.
Lakeshore heads to Madison for a doubleheader on Sunday as their quest for the second playoff spot continues.
