Eli Benes

MEQUON, Wi.- 2 1/2 games in the lead of the Great Lakes West division with eight games remaining in the regular season, on Saturday, August 1 the Lakeshore Chinooks faced the second-place Wausau Woodchucks on the road at Athletic Park.

With their magic number down to six games, the Chinooks got off to a strong start in Saturday’s contest. With runners on second and third base with one out in the opening inning, Sam Myers got the Chinooks on the board first with a RBI groundout.

In the next at bat, Nick Allred extended the inning with a RBI single hit to center field. In the bottom half of the inning, Wausau scored their first run of the game on a two-out error committed by Jack Counsell.

Up 2-1, the Chinooks lead would only last until the bottom of the second inning, when two walks and a single loaded the bases for Keagen Jirschele. On a 1-1 count, Jirschele sent the third pitch of the at bat  from Max Mora over the left field wall for a go-ahead grand slam.

The grand slam from Jirschele proved to be enough, as Wausau held the Chinooks scoreless the rest of the game, winning 6-2. After the second inning, the Chinooks collected four hits and had six total baserunners while making the first out in every inning except the ninth.

After Max Mora exited in the second inning after allowing the grand slam, Ryan Richter and Zach Gibbs covered the remaining innings for the Chinooks.

Richter went 4.2 innings, allowing a lone run in the sixth while allowing just two hits. Following Richter on the mound, Gibbs tossed two scoreless innings of work. With the loss to Wausau, the Woodchucks trail 1.5 games behind the Chinooks in the Great Lakes West as both teams make playoff pushes.

With game two of the teams two-game set having major playoff implications, they face each other on Sunday, August 2 with first pitch at 1:05 pm CDT.