WAUSAU, Wi. — With the Chinooks up two in the bottom of the fifth, after having just reeled off three runs in the top of it, the Woodchucks drew three straight walks. Wausau didn’t look back. After scoring four in that inning, the ‘Chucks piled on nine more runs to blow the game open. Wausau won 15-6, sweeping the weekend series against Lakeshore.

In the bottom of the first, ‘Nooks starter Connor Brooks gave up a run but bookended the frame with punch outs.

Then, in the second, infielders Brady Counsell and Gene Trujillo used a walk and a single to put runners on the corners with no outs. Right fielder Billy Scaldeferri made good on their efforts and sent a ball deep enough to score Counsell.

The offense gave Brooks a chance to settle in. He didn’t give up a hit in the second or third en route to putting up two zeroes.

But, in the fourth, the six-foot hurler faced some early trouble. Hits from the first two Woodchucks batters put Wausau in position to score, and the first baseman punched a ball to left. The ball found left fielder AJ Garcia’s glove, and there was no play at home as Wausau got the lead, but Garcia did his best Joey Nerat impression with a cannon to second to get the runner attempting to tag up.

Garcia’s outfield assist wrestled momentum over to the Chinooks. Center fielder Connor Hennings stung a base hit to left, and Ethan Hindle jumped on the first pitch he saw for a double to left. With one out, second baseman Jack Counsell thwacked a triple to the opposite-field, stealing the lead from Wausau. Trujillo came to bat two Chinooks later, and he too doubled to score the Whitefish Bay native-Counsell, opening up a 4-2 Lakeshore lead.

Things fell apart in the Wausau fifth. The Woodchucks one-upped Lakeshore’s three-run fifth with four scores of their own, and then they proceeded to put up crooked numbers in every inning afterward.

The game was still within reach in the top of the sixth with the ‘Chucks up 8-4. Hindle earned a free pass, one of four times he reached base in the matinee game, and Trujillo shuffled his rally cap on with a full count walk of his own. Scaldeferri grounded a ball to third for the Chinooks’ third out of the inning, but it was the last opportunity to keep things close.

Wausau batted around in the seventh after outfielder Max Galvin led off with a dinger.

Lakeshore catcher Sam Hunt flaunted some power with a round-tripper of his own to start the eighth. Then, after Hennings ripped his second double of the day, Hindle drove him in with a single back up the middle.

The two eighth-inning runs were the last of the day for the Chinooks as the Woodchucks bashed three home runs and more than 20 baserunners to send Lakeshore home packing.

After the three-day All-Star break, the Chinooks are back in action in a doubleheader Thursday at Moonlight Graham Field in Mequon. Game one is scheduled for 4:05 p.m. and game two is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. as the Wisconsin Rapids Rafters come to town.

Article written by David Jacobs.