Mequon, WI – Coming off of what the Lakeshore Chinooks thought would be a momentum building win Thursday night, they fall to the Rockford Rivets 10-5 on Friday night, splitting the two game series.

Facing Chinooks starter Tyler Hasper (Heartland Community College) who made his fourth appearance of the year coming into the game with a 2.13 ERA and 16 strikeouts, the Rivets jump out to an early lead in the top of the first. Neal Tyrell (Lewis) smacked a single to right while Cade Bunnell (Madison Tech) and Ricardo Ramirez (UIC) drew back-to-back walks, loading the bases for David Cronin (UIC), who comes up to the plate hitting an RBI ground out that brought in Tyrell to give the Rivets a 1-0 lead.

The Chinooks battled right back in the bottom of the first after Zac Taylor (Houston) draws a walk and steals second, making that his sixth stolen base of the year. Gage Canning (Arizona State) grounds out advancing Taylor to 3rd followed by an RBI double from Tim Dalporto (Kent State) bringing Taylor home and tying the game 1-1.

It becomes very clear that this game is going to be a slug-fest. Top of the second, Braden Williams (Texas Tech) and Jacob Vander Wal (Ohio State) both lead off with a base hits to left.

Michael Smith (San Jacinto JC) rips an RBI single scoring Williams putting the Rivets back on top 2-1. Tyrell adds on to the Rivets lead making it 3-1 after an RBI ground out scoring Vander Wal. Bunnell follows the scoring trend and scores Smith off single increasing the Rivet’s lead to 4-1.

Later in the second, Austin Havekost (Kent State) got sent to the mound for the Chinooks making it his 3rd appearance coming into the game with a 3.00 ERA and getting his team out of the rest of the second inning scoreless.

Bottom of the second Chinooks battle back after Hayden Senger (Miami-Ohio) smacks one to left for a double. Owen Miller (Illinois State) singles and Alec Olund (Purdue) follows with a walk to load the bases. Royce Ando (Michigan State) scores Senger off a fielder’s choice and Canning rips an RBI double to make it 4-3 Rivets.

Havekost stays in to pitch for the Chinooks and gives up a leadoff double to Cronin. Jesse Wilkening (Nebraska) hits his first RBI of the season scoring Cronin making it 5-3 Rivets. Williams and Alex Maloney (Ball State) draw back-to-back walks and the Chinooks struggle to stop the Rivets from scoring so they bring in lefty pitcher Nick Lackney (Minnesota). Vander Wal welcomes Lackney with an RBI single scoring Wilkening and it is now 6-3 Rivets. Smith makes it 7-3 Rivets after drawing a walk bringing in Williams and Tyrel follows with a walk scoring Maloney. It is now 8-3 Rivets.

Scoring would stay light for the Chinooks in the bottom of the third. Kurtis Brown (Richmond) led off with a double and Darius Sewell (Georgia State) scored Brown off an RBI double making it 8-4 Rivets.

Chinooks called Brandon Baker (Georgia State) in from the bullpen to pitch in the top of the fourth and started with a walk to Cronin. Wilkening smacks an RBI double scoring Cronin and it is now 9-4 Rivets. Maloney singles and Vander Wal hit back-to-back singles increasing Rivets lead to 10-4. Ando comes up to the plate in the bottom of the fourth and draws a walk which allows him to score after an error by Rivet’s first baseman making it 10-5 Rivets.

Going into the top of the fifth the game turned into a battle of the bullpens. Chinooks brought in Luke Sommerfeld (Saint Louis) who pitched three scoreless innings and getting 2 strikeouts. Austin Jones (UW-Whitewater) and Brandon Parr (Madison College) would also make relief appearances for the Chinooks and hold the Rivet’s scoreless for the rest of the game. Rivets brought in a new pitcher of their own, Anthony Dahl (Arkansas), who also held the Chinooks scoreless through four innings while getting four strikeouts and got awarded the win for the Rivets.

The Chinooks return home Saturday night at 6:35 pm to take on the Wisconsin Woodchucks in a two game series.

The Lakeshore Chinooks are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. Playing its 23rd season of summer collegiate baseball, the Northwoods League is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 18 teams, drawing significantly more fans, in a friendly ballpark experience, than any league of its kind. A valuable training ground for coaches, umpires and front office staff, more than 150 Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (CWS), Jordan Zimmermann (DET), Curtis Granderson (NYM), Lucas Duda (NYM) and Ben Zobrist (CHC). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League portal. For more information, visithttp://northwoodsleague.com/lakeshore-chinooks.