Mequon, WI — The Lakeshore Chinooks offense (2-0) darn sure set off fireworks Thursday.

Down 5-4 to the Fond du Lac Dock Spiders (0-2), the Chinooks absolutely lit up the scoreboard on their way to a nine-run sixth as part of their 13-9 4th of July comeback victory. Second baseman Brady Counsell smoked literally everything he made contact with on the day, and SS Ethan Hindle fired a dinger in the sixth to tie the most productive inning of the Lakeshore season.

Leading off the Chinooks half of the first, Counsell lined out to center. Then, RF Joey Nerat lined out to right, and Hindle flew out to left. There was nothing to show for the Chinooks’ hard contact, but boy does a good swing give a team confidence.

Starting pitcher Matthew Lopez (Northern Kentucky) threw two scoreless frames to open the contest. In the second, he drew a double play to eliminate a runner in scoring position.

Fond du Lac 2B Donavan Canterberry earned a walk to start the first rally of the game in the third. The next two batters both got base hits, putting three threats on with no Spiders gone. Then, a fly ball fell in the glove of Nerat. The right fielder made a perfect throw home, but the speedy Canterberry just barely slid under Hunt’s tag on a bang-bang play. In response, Lopez induced a second double play to limit the damage.

And just like Lopez, the Chinooks offense gave the Dock Spiders a quick reply. Center fielder Griffin Cameron notched an opposite-field single, and Counsell followed with a four-pitch walk. Nerat then walked to load the bases. With one out, Hindle tattooed a sac fly to left, scoring Kentucky teammate Griffin Cameron. 1-1 ballgame.

In the top of the fourth, the Spiders issued a reply of their own, stringing together two more singles. Then, a single to right gave Lakeshore deja vu from the previous frame as a run came sliding underneath the tag to regain the Spiders’ lead. A third straight inning with a double play for Lopez closed his outing.

Three straight runners earned walks in the ‘Nooks half of the fourth, and then LF Vidal Colon tied the game the painful way, with a hit-by-pitch. Cameron then put the first ball in play of the inning, a sac fly to left – but it took an incredible face-planting snag to keep another run from scoring. Counsell followed with another hard-hit fly out to left center, and Nerat walked again. A deep, sky-scraping Hindle fly out to left with the bases loaded left the Chinooks wanting more but up 3-2.

In the back-and forth game, Canterberry charged Fond du Lac up once more. He hit a single and came around to score, one of an eventual three Spiders to come home as Fondy snatched the lead back in the top of the fifth. 5-3, Spiders.

Cameron again made an excellent play for the Chinooks in the fifth, beating out an infield single up the middle with the bases loaded and two outs. Again, this time with three on, Counsell clapped a pitch to left, and again, it found the glove of a Spider. Counsell went just 2-5 on the day, but each of his six plate appearances were excellent.

“Stats can be whatever, but he hit the ball pretty much the best anyone on our team has this year. He squared it up every single time,” Nerat said.

In the sixth, it was tees off for Lakeshore, where the club tied its season-high nine-run inning from a week ago, today. Down 5-4 entering, the Chinooks left with an eight-run lead after this sequence:

• Nerat four-pitch walk
• Hindle walk
• 1B Gene Trujillo walk
• 3B Ty Wisdom full-count walk. Game tied 5-5
• C Sam Hunt HBP. Chinooks lead 6-5
• PH AJ Garcia sac fly to center. 7-5.
• Colon ambushed the first pitch for an RBI single. 8-5.
• Cameron RBI single. 9-5.
• After Cameron stole second, Counsell bashed a 2-RBI double off the wall in left. 11-5, Chinooks.
• After Counsell caught the pitcher in la-la-land on his way to stealing third, Nerat sac fly. 12-5.
• Hindle no-doubt home run to left. 13-5, Lakeshore Chinooks.

“That guy’s got juice,” Nerat said of Hindle. “He’s got elite barrel control and elite power, and obviously when you make a mistake, he’s gonna make you pay for it.”

Safe to say that a few mistakes were made by the Spiders pitching staff against a growingly confident Chinooks team. They even made a “mistake” on the base paths to end the game, Nerat said. With two outs, the Dock Spiders roped a single into right, but the MLB-level arm of Joey Nerat made the play of the game, positively hosing the runner at second.

“[The reaction] was a big blowup,” the right fielder said of his teammates’ reactions. “[Those plays] are what you dream of as an outfielder, and it was a great way to wrap up the game.”

“It’s America’s Game on America’s Day,” Nerat concluded of the Chinooks’ 13-9 victory.

After winning three of four against the Dock Spiders, the Chinooks look to poach the Mallards Friday at 6:05 p.m. (CST) at Warner Park in Madison, WI.

Article written by David Jacobs.