Wisconsin Rapids, WI – Coming into Friday night’s game having played 33 innings in two days, Lakeshore was relieved to have just the nine innings of ball, but the fatigue may have finally set in as they would be retired in order through the first four innings and end the game with just three runs on six hits to a Rapids ten runs on fifteen hits.

The Chinooks (5-6) came into the game tied with the Rafters (6-5) for third behind the Woodchucks and Mallards for the division, fighting for the last playoff spot. They drop back to fourth and face a four-game deficit to a powerful Madison Mallards team that they will face following the two-game series in Wisconsin Rapids.

Opposing hitters jumped on starting pitcher Matthew Lopez again, tallying a 4-0 advantage through the first two innings. This time, Lopez was hit cleanly making the Rafters earn their runs while he only allowed one walk.

Lopez found himself in a bases-loaded jam in the first inning without recording an out. A Wisconsin Rapids with three All-Stars (De Goti, McGwire, and Mathey) making up the first five in their lineup struck three across in the first frame and never looked back.

A sacrifice fly plated the fourth run of the game in the second before a scoreless third.

Then, Lopez would be chased before finishing the fourth. Never recording an extra-base hit in the game, the Rafters executed the station-to-station work perfectly.

A groundout looked to keep things rolling for Lopez, but Wisconsin Rapids collected four singles broken up by a strikeout, forcing Lakeshore to call for reinforcements. Ross Huffman entered the game and in a seven-pitch at-bat that saw five straight foul balls, he struck out Teel to end the inning and hold the score at 6-0 in favor of the opposition.

Plating eight in the sixth, the Rafters would go up 9-0 a hill Lakeshore would have to slowly climb to get over.

Finally in the eighth, the Chinooks broke through. Schwalbach lead off the inning with a single and was eventually moved over to third. With two outs, the best chance at scoring for the ‘Nooks was leaning towards another zero, but Connor Hennings had something to say about it. After hitting the ball hard all season with a lack of stats to show for it at times, Hennings sent another ball over the fence, his second in as many games. Lakeshore was on the board, and Hennings’ power was showing up in the stats.

A pair of runs were exchanged on both sides in the bottom of the eighth, and top of the ninth, but Lakeshore couldn’t cut the deficet to any less than seven, ending in a 10-3 loss.

Freshly named All-Star, Dominic Kibler added two walks to his season total, surpassing thirty. His 31 walks has worked him a nearly .500 OBP (on-base percentage) at .475 which has rightfully earned Kibler a spot as one of three catchers in the Great Lakes to be named an All-Star, and be the lone Chinooks representative.

McGwire and Mathey would end their night tallying 5 RBIs in the four and five spots, respectively. The two All-Stars propelled the Rafters to the win over the Chinooks to give them the edge in the standings, for now.

Lakeshore will remain in Wisconsin Rapids for Saturday’s 6:35 pm CST game before returning home Sunday for a 1:05 pm CST date with the Mallards in a pivotal series. The ‘Nooks look to catch a hot-streak to end their week and change up some standings in the meantime.

Article written by Sam Marchant.