Fond Du Lac, WI — The Lakeshore Chinooks (15-18) saw 28 baserunners reach base safely in a 17-12 road win over the Fond Du Lac Dock Spiders (12-20) Monday, recording 18 hits and 10 free passes. It was a full-throttle bludgeoning offensively throughout the contest for the traveling ‘Nooks, who won their second straight game.

The Chinooks two-upped their previous season high of 15 runs, set on May 28th against the Kokomo Jackrabbits. On an overcast night in Fondy, Lakeshore kept the pressure coming more consistently than the Dock Spiders.

In his final start with the Chinooks according to the coaching staff, Seaver Sheets opened his first three frames efficiently. The University of Louisiana at Monroe hurler kept the Spiders from scoring, pitching to contact and finishing the third with just 28 pitches to his name.

That gave Lakeshore an opportunity to jump on Fond Du Lac early. DH Sam Hunt and 3B Ty Wisdom drew walks, and CF AJ Garcia followed. The quick-trigger lefty pounced on the second pitch of his turn, drawing first blood with an RBI single. Then came a long at-bat for 1-spot hitter Brady Counsell.

Counsell wouldn’t miss the pitch he did get to hit. The Kansas product smashed a three-run bomb to left, giving the Chinooks an early 4-0 lead.

In the third, both teams threatened with runners in scoring position, but neither broke through, preserving a grand-slam lead for Lakeshore.

But as the Chinooks had chosen even-inning dominance for their specialty Monday, the fourth proved fruitful. LF Connor Hennings sparked another rally with a single, and he would come around to score on a double to center by RF Dominic Kibler. The extra-base hit was one of only three on the night for Lakeshore, which tallied an incredible 15 singles.

Later in the fourth, ‘Nooks C Vidal Colon understood the assignment. He got a hold of a 2-RBI single to left, later coming around to score and to give the fish a 10-0 lead.

However, Sheets lost control after hitting a batter in the Spiders’ half of the frame. For Fond du Lac, five runs came across in the period, which cut the double-digit deficit in half.

The Chinooks responded right away. In the top of the fifth, Hunt and Wisdom provided the big plays to help score three more runs for Lakeshore. Recommencing the scoring, Hunt ripped a 2-RBI double to left, and Colon followed with another single. Wisdom then scored Hunt with an RBI of his own, a base hit pulled to right.

Up 13-5, reliever Evan Shapiro put himself in excellent position for the win. He finished the fifth with a punch out, but when the Chinooks couldn’t plate any runners in the sixth, he found himself in trouble. There were two outs, and Shapiro was down the platoon advantage to Tyler Neises, the author of a .356 AVG this season.

Once again, the Chinooks pitcher struck out the Dock Spiders to end the inning unharmed.

Lakeshore scored again in the top of the seventh to make it 14-5, but Fond du Lac wouldn’t go gently into that cloudy night. The web-makers brought 12 batters to plate in their turn and it took 58 tosses for the Chinooks to get through the inning, but by the end of it all the ‘Nooks clung to a two-run edge.

Just as they had done in the fifth, the Chinooks responded admirably with a three-run inning to counter the Spiders’ move. The fish nearly batted around for the third time, using a small ball approach to maintain the pressure.

Enter Connor Walters. The shutdown righty lived up to his 2.25 ERA entering play with a powerful display in the eighth. He would punch out three straight Dock Spiders, all swinging, to bring the game to its final inning.

Afforded a five-run lead, Walters attacked the arachnids in the ninth. He drew a quick pop fly before striking out the second batter, and after a first-pitch single, confidently exterminated the Spiders with a fly out to center.

The Chinooks rode their best offensive output of the year to a victory Monday. Rock-solid righties Evan Shapiro (who recorded the win) and Connor Walters (who closed out the game) deserve credit for making good on the explosive performance from the Lakeshore offense.

Riding a two-game win streak into Tuesday, the Chinooks get the Dock Spiders at 6:35 p.m. (CST) at Moonlight Graham Field tomorrow in Mequon.

Article written by David Jacobs.