The Wausau Woodchucks (18-3) have become the darling of the young Northwoods League baseball season, and on Tuesday they took the Lakeshore Chinooks (10-10) for a ride. It was an altogether strong performance from the best team so far in 2024, and it resulted in a 9-1 loss for Lakeshore at the paws of the woodchucks.

Wausau totaled nine runs on 10 hits, getting 2-RBI nights from four different players. ‘Chucks 2B Issac Webb (Texas A&M Corpus Christi) was the player of the night, teeing off to go 2-5 with a HR, a double and 2 RBIs, raising his OPS to 1.340 for Wausau.

Woodchucks 1B Kam Durnin (Wichita State University) matched his infield teammate with two hits and two batted in. The left-infield hitters have just a few games under their belts, but have both made their presence known since joining the league.

For Lakeshore, it was a bit of a puzzling outing from starter Matthew Mueller. He needed 70 tosses to get through three, but worked well from the stretch to limit the damage to the scoreboard.

In particular, the bottom of the second inning exemplified a strange night for the ‘Nooks. The southpaw walked two straight, then overpowered the Wausau RF for a three-pitch punch out. The next batter advanced to first on a sac bunt, and Lakeshore failed to record an out on the play, loading the bases. Mueller responded with a three-pitch strikeout of Webb, setting up a battle with RF Jonah St. Antoine.

He fell behind in a 3-1 count with nowhere to put St. Antoine. Then, Mueller rallied. He would punch out the Woodchuck on a full count, already his fifth strikeout through two.

After three strenuous frames, the Chinooks put reliever Andrew Guardino in the game in the fourth. Things didn’t go so well for the power pitcher, and despite getting ahead against four of his eight hitters, he couldn’t make it out of the inning.

The strong inning for Wausau gave them a six-run advantage and buried the ‘Nooks, who struggled to string hits together.

Finally in the sixth inning, Lakeshore CF Prince Deboskie knocked an extra-base hit, a pull-shot two-bagger. The ball dropped near the Wausau left fielder, allowing LF AJ Garcia to get to third base and bring to plate the first significant scoring chance for the Chinooks. Both runners would be stranded, maintaining a Woodchucks shutout.

In the top of the seventh, the Chinooks had seen enough. Milwaukee native and 3B Brady Counsell led off the inning with a double, and two batters later, UW-Milwaukee SS Gabe Roessler hit an infield single, allowing him to hurry home.

After Lakeshore broke through in the top of the period, Wausau responded again with three more runs of its own. From there, the Chinooks were unable to score again or change the eight-run deficit.

Earlier this June, Lakeshore handed division-rival Wausau its third loss of the season. Tuesday it was not to be.

The Chinooks get another shot at the Northwoods-leading Woodchucks Wednesday, and first pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. (CST) at Athletic Park in Wausau, WI.