Kalamazoo, MI – The Lakeshore Chinooks began the second half of their season and ended Independence Day in style with a 4-3 victory against the Kalamazoo Growlers on Wednesday. The win is Lakeshore’s first against the Growlers since the second day of the season.
With the game tied at three entering the ninth inning, first baseman Dallas Beaver led off the inning with a double, his second of the game. Two batters later, right fielder Zach Clayton’s RBI single up the middle brought Beaver home, and the run held as the game-winner, as right-hander Nick Campe pitched a 1-2-3 bottom of the ninth to earn the win in relief.
The RBI single is already Clayton’s second game-winning hit with Lakeshore. He joined the team Monday. He’s been in the lineup in all four of the games he’s been present, and has begun the summer 6-for-14, a .429 batting average. The Chinooks have won three of those four games, and, have now won six of their last eight.
Campe pitched the final 1 2/3 innings in the win. His performance comes on the heels of a blown save last Friday. Aside from that blip, he’s been a reliable late-inning arm in the Lakeshore bullpen.
Center fielder Andy Shadid, who had been in a recent rough patch at the plate that brought his batting average below .200, hit his second home run of the season in the third inning. The blast was his third consecutive game with a hit.
Starting pitcher Jacob Lindemann’s fifth start of the season was perhaps his best. He went five innings, allowed only one earned run on four hits, and struck out a season-high five. He exited with the Chinooks trailing, 2-1, but Lakeshore took the lead in the top of the sixth.
Third baseman Griffin Dey drew a two-out walk, and Beaver followed with a double. That brought second baseman Jim Govern to the plate. He reached base on an error by the Growlers’ second baseman, which allowed both Dey and Beaver to score. The Growlers tied the game at three the next inning.
The Chinooks remain in Kalamazoo Thursday for the second game in the two-game set against the Growlers. Brendan McGuigan takes the mound for Lakeshore and will look to right the ship after a pair of rocky starts. Still, the right-hander is 1-1 with a 2.25 earned run average this season. McGuigan threw two scoreless innings in relief against the Growlers early in the season. First pitch is at 6:05 p.m.
