Eli Benes

MEQUON, Wi.- For the first time this season, a Chinooks starting pitcher has gone the distance. For Carter Kutz, it took over 110 pitches and 36 batters faced to do so in a 13-3 win over the Fond du Lac Dock Spiders on Friday, July 24.

After retiring the side in the top of the eighth, Kutz told Assistant Coach Brian Gregory he could go out for the ninth. Gregory told Kutz no, but Kutz insisted and took the mound in the ninth. Kutz battled traffic on the bases, allowing a pair of singles to put runners on second and third base with two outs.

Kutz said he knew the batter Joey Monetti would be the last batter he’d face. In knowing that, Kutz gave it is all, striking out Monetti in three pitches. Upon getting Monetti to swing and miss on a slider, the crowd and dugout exploded with enthusiasm and celebration.

On the field after the momentous occasion, Kutz took in the chants of his name from the young fans at the stadium as Thursday’s start was his last appearance of the year for the Chinooks.

“To do something like that and leave this town with something as special as a complete game is awesome,” Kutz said.

Kutz entered Thursday with a 7.16 in 27.2 innings in what has been an up and down season. In Thursday’s start Kutz was dialed in, throwing 21 first pitch strikes while facing the minimum in five of his nine innings pitched.

Kutz used a heavy off-speed approach, establishing notably his changeup and slider early in counts and inducing 10 groundouts.

“Getting that in for a strike and being able to throw that 1-0, 2-0 is a huge benefit for me and it helped me a lot.”

Kutz dominant start represented the second strong start for a Chinooks pitcher on the day as Christopher Romo allowed three earned runs in 5.2 innings of work in a 5-4 loss to Fond du Lac.

“He was paying attention to the first game and saw how Romo had some success,” Gregory said. “It was good to see him follow up on that today.”

The biggest difference between the two game was the offensive output. Held to four runs on five hits in the game one loss, the Chinooks erupted for 13 runs on 14 hits in game two. The Chinooks big break came in the fifth inning when they scored 10 runs on six hits.

Before game two on Thursday, the Chinooks in their last five games were held to 3.2 runs per contest.

“If you look at all our wins and losses this year, it really is just a big hit that separates the wins from the losses,” Gregory said.

Splitting the doubleheader, the Chinooks are now 14-7 and tied at the top of the Great Lakes West division with Wausau with 16 games remaining in the regular season.