Mequon, WI — At one point in game one of Thursday’s doubleheader against the Fond du Lac Dock Spiders (3-6), the Lakeshore Chinooks (4-5) trailed 9-2 to their division rivals.

Then, later, Lakeshore drew even with a six-run seventh inning. At 10-10, the Spiders scored to restore their lead, then the Chinooks knotted it again. But finally in the ninth, the Dock Spiders would outlast the Chinooks by slamming the door on a two-run lead, securing a 13-11 game one win in Mequon.

The 3 hour and 10 minute game started out efficiently for both teams, as Lakeshore opener Jack Savitch (LSU-Shreveport) tossed three scoreless innings in just 33 pitches.

In the second, the ‘Nooks put up the first crooked number of the contest. After SS Gabe Roessler walked, he wreaked havoc on the base paths by stealing second on the first pitch and third on the second pitch of the following at-bat. Then, 1B Gene Trujillo fisted an RBI single into right and 3B Billy Scaldeferri punched a hit through the gap to left. Later in the inning, LF AJ Garcia poked an RBI single to center and stole second. The Chinooks couldn’t bring him home as Scaldeferri was caught stealing home.

Lakeshore nearly completed a two-out rally in the third after 2B Jack Counsell drew a full count walk and DH Mason Schwalbach smoked a single, but Roessler hit a ground ball just a bit too hard toward the third baseman.

But the fourth would be a trouble spot for Savitch as the Spiders struck for seven scores. After Fond du Lac SS Drew Barragan hit a single hard to left, LF Parker Knoll destroyed a home run to left on the first pitch. Then, things went from bad to worse for Lakeshore as 1B Tyler Neises restarted the rally. The Spiders saw 12 different hitters come to plate in the inning, and after Knoll connected on an RBI groundout in his second appearance in the inning, the Chinooks finally escaped.

In the fifth, the Dock Spiders added two more runs to their lead with a triple to left. 9-2, Fond du Lac.

Right fielder Connor Hennings spark-plugged the Chinooks in the fifth, beating out an infield single and copying Roessler with steals of second and third in the same at-bat.

“I knew [the Spiders pitcher] was kinda slow to the plate so I really wanted to take advantage of that and put myself into an RBI situation for Jack behind me,” Hennings said. “Being aggressive on the base paths really puts the pressure on the pitcher.”

It turned out to be C Vidal Colon who laced an RBI single to plate the Iowa outfielder and bite into the Spiders lead. Then, Schwalbach chopped a ground ball to the right side for a run-scoring groundout to cut the lead to 9-4.

Garcia stole second with Hennings on deck in the sixth, and with CF Griffin Cameron, the Chinooks’ most efficient base bandit, behind him, provided Lakeshore a chance to score. But, the Chinooks couldn’t cash in.

The Dock Spiders scored again in the seventh, pushing their lead to 10-4. They would need every bit of it to withstand the furious storm that stemmed in the Chinooks’ seventh.

Hennings again beat out an infield single to make sure the Chinooks had their rally caps in place. Counsell followed with a walk, and after a wild pitch, Colon matched him. Schwalbach then got plunked with nobody gone to cut the Spider lead to five. Then, Roessler stung a sac fly to center, and a two-base wild pitch allowed Colon to score. With light at the end of the tunnel, Garcia earned a full count RBI walk to make it 10-8.

“[Hitting coach Levi Jensen] had the scouting report on the pitcher and he was definitely a little wild … so getting on base, doing [our] job was what we needed,” Counsell said.

With two outs, Hennings struck again for his third hit of the game and more importantly, the tying run. 10-10 ballgame.

Fondy responded with a run of its own in the eighth. 11-10, Spiders.

Schwalbach got a Chinooks response going in the eighth, scalding a pitch to left for a standup double. And to tie it up at 11, PH Jack Halloran pulled an RBI single to left.

In the top of the ninth, Fond du Lac drew two walks and stole a base to really put the Chinooks in danger. With 3-hitter Parker Knoll coming to bat, the walks proved costly for Lakeshore. Knoll caned a sac fly to the warning track in left. Then, Neises hit an infield single, and another sac fly to right scored Barragan to give the Dock Spiders a 13-11 lead.

Cameron got on base and stole a bag in the ninth, but it wasn’t enough for Lakeshore, which staged a raging seven-run comeback. The Dock Spiders took game one, outlasting Lakeshore for a 13-11 victory. Despite playing two doubleheaders in two days, pitching coach Mitch Rogers expressed calm swagger about game two, a 6:35 p.m. (CST) start at Moonlight Graham Field.

“If you’re gonna play in the Northwoods League, you gotta be ready for it,” Rogers said. “I have full confidence that we will be ready to play another one here tonight.”

Article written by David Jacobs. Image by Connor Ziman.