Mequon, WI – As they wrapped up the homestand with the Leprechauns of Royal Oak, Lakeshore looked to sweep and go 3-1 in their last four. With twelve at-bats in the second inning, the ‘Nooks offensive gave themselves room to exhale, but the foot was let off too early and the flashy Royal Oak offense came storming back.

The Chinooks got their first runner on in right-fielder Connor Hennings via a walk to lead off the second inning. He stole second and closed in on 90 feet from home. Then, a Gabe Roessler ball down the line got through for a base hit putting the ‘Nooks ahead early. Lakeshore wasn’t close to being done yet. After adding two, they chased starting pitcher Andrew Abler out of the game before making the second out of the inning. The freshman from Harvard needed 34 pitches only getting through 10 batters. His worst start on the season, previously only having a 1.65 ERA with 2 walks and 16 strikeouts.

Three pitchers later, the Leprechauns finally secured the third out of the inning, but not before falling to a hefty 7-0 deficit.

Growing the lead in the fourth, Deboskie led off the inning with a double deep into the left-field corner followed by a Schwalbach triple that jumped off the turf over the right-fielder Campbell. Schwalbach motored to third. Hennings, with a quietly productive start to the season, grounded out to the shortstop giving him his second RBI and the second run of the inning.

Bryan worked through four scoreless innings but ran into troubles in the fifth. Two singles and his only walk of the game loaded the bases with no outs for the Lucky Leprechauns. Getting a break on a ball that just stayed fair down the line, Royal Oak took two runs back. A throw that was shot out of a cannon in right just skipped out of Kibler’s glove at home before taking a hard slide. Two baserunners scored on consecutive pitches – weak contact forced Schwalbach to take the out at first followed by a balk on pitcher Kyle Becker.

Kibler, who’s been hot offensively in his past two starts, hosed a running Leprechaun to end the inning. The three runners Becker inherited scored as well as one of his own shrinking the lead to five for the Chinooks.

Sullivan came in for the seventh quickly getting an out, but walked Bottone on just three pitches after two separate pitch clock violations. A double play ball that was fumbled led to a run scored and runners sitting on the corners. Another scored on a wild pitch that rebounded off the brick wall backstop, scoring two in the inning. 9-6 Lakeshore still led.

A scoreless eighth brought in Mitch Mueller to close things out. Part of the big win Tuesday, tonights outing wasn’t as quick. He gave up three runs on four hits in the bottom of the ninth to knot the game at nine, putting up nine unanswered after Lakeshore jumped ahead 9-0.

A moment that foreshadowed a wild ending, Cho told his players earlier in the week they have to come back loving the game no matter what as it can humble you quickly.

Tonight, after giving up nine unanswered they would have to fight through that. Playing under the lights, the fireworks would be held for at least another inning.

2-0 in extra-innings so far this year and previously sneaking out with a 12-11 win over Royal Oak, Lakeshore was in a familiar place. Adam Switalski got the ball with a runner on second. After a leadoff walk put the force in play, Switalski handled business himself striking out the next three Leprechauns.

Going into the bottom of the tenth, a speedy Josh Outlaw occupied second to start the inning off. Kibler, who had himself a long night behind the plate, was hit by a pitch to put the force into play. Scaldeferri who is heating up as summer approaches knocked a single that wasn’t quite deep enough into the outfield grass. That rolled things over to the top of the lineup in AJ Garcia looking to reach by any means necessary. A moment he’s been in before flashing back to this year at Michigan where he had a walk-off walk to beat Purdue and win the series.

No walk this time, on an 0-1 count AJ drove a ball to the deepest part of the field over the left-fielder Bottone who would’ve had no chance at getting Outlaw even if he made the play. Garcia just missed a walk-off grand slam, but nevertheless did exactly what he needed and hit the Chinooks to victory at 10-9 in game-ending fashion.

“I just wanted to get something in the air and put a good barrel on it… I took one big deep breath and I was like alright here we go. Now we go.” AJ reflected about his approach, including the mindfulness tactics he often uses.

Lakeshore was outhit 11-7, but executed when they needed. They move to 9-8, sweeping the not so lucky Royal Oak Leprechauns.

Going on the road for their next six, starting in Wisconsin Rapids with a 6:35 pm CST first pitch.

Written by Sam Marchant. Photo by Krisjanis Kaugars.