Rockford, IL — After the Lakeshore Chinooks (13-17) blasted their way to a victory Thursday night in Mequon over the Rockford Rivets (23-9), the ‘Nooks traveled across the Wisconsin-Illinois border for game two of the home-and-home series. Just like Thursday, Lakeshore scored three in the first frame, but the Rivets replied with consecutive crooked numbers to build an insurmountable lead and give them revenge on the Chinooks.

In the first, it was ‘Nooks 1B Mason Schwalbach and DH Ethan Hindle that got a rally going, with the former doubling and the latter walking. Then, with two gone, C Sam Hunt – the owner of a .479 OPS (on-base plus slugging %) – rewarded the Chinooks for putting him in the 5-spot the best way possible. He torched a three-run home run, giving Lakeshore an early advantage.

Yet, the Rivets offense wasn’t fazed. They didn’t bring any runners across in the first despite putting two on, but that would change in the second.

Two walks and a single empowered the Rockford offense to score its first run behind a Scott Newman sacrifice fly. The following batter then rinsed and repeated the fly ball strategy. After two straight sacrifice flies, the Rivets hit two doubles to tie and then take the lead from the Chinooks. 4-3, Rivets.

The third went by in a flash for the Chinooks. Screws starter Carson Seeman needed just seven pitches to put the pressure right back on the fish.

Then in the bottom of the inning, Rockford took complete control of the contest. It capitalized on early baserunners with a string of three extra-base hits. Even the outs in the third were productive for the Rivets, as they capped off the five-run barrage with an RBI groundout.

After getting through a rocky first, Seeman continued his elite-level efficiency in the fourth. He retired the side in just four pitches (!).

The Chinooks completely turned the tide in the fifth, jumping on the righty to load the bases with no outs. The Rivets made a heads-up play on a Hindle grounder to get the force out at third, and although one scored, ‘Nooks RF Ty Wisdom proved the decision righteous. The lefty hit a ball deep to center, one that would have been deep enough to score a runner, but the previous play paid off as there was nobody to send home.

With his team down five, Chinooks reliever Connor Walters deserves massive credit for keeping the team afloat. After recording all three outs in the middle of the previous inning, the 6’4″ pitcher set down the Rivets in order in both the fifth and sixth.

The shutdown middle innings from Walters kept Lakeshore within striking distance, and it did finally push across two runs in the top of the seventh. Hindle and Wisdom both got on, and LF Joey Nerat put the ball in play to get them home.

Next batter and 3B Billy Scaldeferri fell behind 0-2 after two waves and misses. But with two outs, he smacked a laser toward right field. Unfortunately, a classic “that’s baseball” moment hit Lakeshore in the face when the ball ended up in the glove of the second baseman, cutting the rally short.

Walters again shut down the Rivets in the bottom of the seventh, giving him a 12-up, 12-down final line.

But the ‘Nooks had missed their chance. Reliever Eric Lin (South Alabama) struck out the side in the Chinooks half of the eighth, and after Rockford added another run for good measure, the four-run lead allowed the righty to slam the door on Lakeshore.

Though the loss was tough for Walters and the Chinooks, there are many positives – namely strong relief pitching at times in the two games against Rockford and growingly-consistent power from Lakeshore hitters – heading into a weekend series against the Madison Mallards.

First pitch against Madison is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. (CST) Saturday night at Moonlight Graham Field in Mequon, WI.

Article written by David Jacobs.