Eli Benes
ROCKFORD, ILL.- After consecutive wins at home, the Lakeshore Chinooks traveled to Rockford, Ill Tuesday, June 23 to face the Rivets for the final matchup of their two-game set.
Tied 2-2 from innings 5-8, the Rivets broke the standstill in the bottom of the ninth with a walk-off RBI single from Jackson Forbes.
Drawing nine walks in Tuesday’s game, the Chinooks were not able to take advantage of their consistent pressure on the basepaths, despite a Chinook reaching on base in all but one inning.
The Chinooks ultimately left eight runners on base, going 1-9 at the plate with two outs. With just three hits in the loss, the two Chinooks runs came on sacrifice fly’s in the third and fifth inning.
Their best chance to add on runs was in the top of the third inning when they had runners on second and third with two outs, before a groundout ended the inning.
Even with Tuesday’s contest being a low-scoring affair, the Rivets also reached base consistently with nine hits. Five of the nine hits were allowed by Chinooks’ starting pitcher Jackson Kobylarczyk.
In his start, Kobylarczyk allowed a Rivet batter to reach safely in all five innings he pitched. Due to issuing two walks in the fifth, Kobylarczyk did not complete the inning. In 4.1 innings of work, the right-handed pitcher allowed two runs with zero strikeouts.
Outside of the walk-off RBI single allowed by Chinook Zander Bretza, in 4.2 innings pitched, that was the lone run allowed by the club’s bullpen. Coming into the game in the fifth inning directly after Kobylarczyk, Groeschl stranded the two runners and recorded a clean sixth inning.
For the seventh and eighth inning, Max Mora delivered two scoreless innings with a pair of strikeouts. Tuesday’s effort capped off a two-game set where the Chinooks bullpen allowed three earned runs in 11.1 innings of work.
Suffering their second walk-off loss on the season, the Chinooks look to get back in the win column as they next face Fond du Lac on Wednesday, June 24 at Moonlight Graham Field in Mequon, Wi.
The Chinooks have been successful against Fond du Lac this year, winning six out of eight games in the season series.
