After game one of the doubleheader was postponed due to rain, the Lakeshore Chinooks (6-4) took on the Madison Mallards (4-3) on Wednesday night in a matchup for first place in the Great Lakes West. The Chinooks had a four-run lead heading into the bottom of the ninth, but were unable to seal the deal in a 6-5 loss.
The long wait could not slow down these Lakeshore bats. The Chinooks came out of the gate firing on all cylinders after last night’s big comeback win in the top of the first. Drew Townsend was hit on the first pitch of the game and Overbeek singled to put two runners on right away in this one.
Following a fly out, Joey Spence crushed a ball to deep right field that missed a home run by a couple feet, but it scored two runs to put Lakeshore out in front early 2-0. Then, Trey Becker delivered a three-run home run to left to extend the lead to 5-0, his first of the season.
The Mallards threatened to answer in the bottom of the third inning. Back-to-back walks to begin the frame put two runners on with nobody out. However, Mueller was able to get three consecutive outs to get out of the jam.
Mueller was relieved in the top of the sixth for Michael Carpenter, completing five hitless and scoreless innings. It took until the bottom of the sixth inning for Madison to register their first hit of the game. Davis Hamilton provided the first hit for the Mallards with a single up the middle to leadoff the frame. Madison was unable to capitalize off the leadoff hit as they grounded out twice to end the inning.
In the bottom of the seventh inning, the Mallards were finally able to get on the board. Following a one-out walk, Jake Goolsby doubled to put two runners in scoring position. David Melfi proceeded to groundout to shortstop but it was enough to do the job and bring in a run, and the score was now 5-1.
The Mallards never stopped fighting in this one. Parker Johnson came into to try and close this one out in the bottom of the ninth but quickly put Madison in a bases loaded situation with nobody out after allowing a single, walk, and hit by pitch. Then, Ben Whiteside was chosen to find a way to come close this one out for the Chinooks. David Melfi proceeded to smack a two-RBI double into the left center gap to make it a 5-3 game all of a sudden.
Mike Gupton tacked on another run for the Mallards courtesy of a sac fly to make it a one-run game at 5-4. One batter later, a wild pitch from Whiteside allowed the tying run to come across the plate, and this game was tied at five a piece. Owen Jackson was the hero in this one for Madison as he hit a sac fly to center that was deep enough to bring in the game-winning run and the Lakeshore winning streak was done at four.
The Chinooks outhit the Mallards 11-4 and eight out of the nine batters had a hit in this game. Trey Becker led the way going 2-for-3 with a home run and three RBI.
The Lakeshore Chinooks look to bounce back tomorrow when they travel to Wausau to take on the Woodchucks. First pitch is set for 6:35 p.m. CST.
