The Lakeshore Chinooks wrapped up a three game series with the Wisconsin Rapids Rafters on a chilly Saturday night at Kapco Park. The third and final game was a back and forth battle with no lead safe. Both teams fought back after trailing in the game but the Chinooks topped the Rafters 7-6. Machbitz <\/b>stated, “When it’s a back and forth game it’s really easy to stay in it, come back when we are trailing and it is always a fun game.”<\/p>\n
A theme is this series was the Rafters always jumped out to an early start. With two outs in the top of the 1st<\/sup> inning, Wisconsin Rapids knocked back-to-back double bringing in three runs and a comfortable cushion early in the game.<\/p>\n The Chinooks fired back in the top of the 3rd<\/sup> inning. With two outs, Lakeshore loaded the bases for Aaron Machbitz<\/b> (South Dakota State) who with one swing of the bat gave the Chinooks a 4-3 lead launching a grand slam over the left-center wall. “I’m not much of a home run hitter so I just tried to hit a line drive and it happened to go out.”<\/p>\n It did not take long for the Rafters to knot the game at 4-4. In the top of the 5th<\/sup> inning, Wisconsin Rapids lead-off man reached on a hit by pitch. He advanced to second and third base on sacrifices and was brought home on a Jackson Slaid RBI single.<\/p>\n Lakeshore answered in the bottom of the 5th<\/sup> inning. After a quick out, the Chinooks loaded the bases once again. Jared Fon<\/b> (UW-Whitewater) flared a two RBI single to right field to regain the lead 6-4.<\/p>\n Wisconsin Rapids jumped on the Chinooks relief pitching in the top of the 7th<\/sup> inning. After an error put runners on second and third base, Donnie Dewees muscled a two RBI double resulting in a 6-6 tie.<\/p>\n With one out in the bottom of the 8th<\/sup> inning, Sawyer Polen<\/b> and Mike Papi<\/b> (Virginia) worked back-to-back walks looking to spark the Chinooks. With Ryan Krill<\/b> (MSU) at the plate, a wild pitch advanced runners to second and third base. Krill was down 0-2 in the count but his patience at the plate earned him a walk but more importantly Polen bolting home on a wild ball four that trickled to the backstop that ultimately gave the Chinooks a 7-6 win.<\/p>\n Lakeshore starter Jake Johansmeier<\/b> (Eastern Illinois) went six innings giving up four runs on four hits and adding two strikeouts. After a tough 1st<\/sup> inning, Johansmeier settled in nicely. Reliever Dan Sayles<\/b> (Miami) came in for 2 2\/3 innings. He also had a rough first inning of work, but regained his confidence recording four strikeouts and earned the win. Mitchell Sewald<\/b> (LSU) was called on to record the final out of the game earning him the save.<\/p>\n The Chinooks (16-6) continue their home stand in a two game series against the North Division leading Waterloo Bucks. The first 750 fans in attendance for the Sunday, July 28th<\/sup> game at 5:05 PM will receive a Chinooks Bottle Coozie! Come see the top two teams in the Northwoods League battle in a showdown in Mequon.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Lakeshore Chinooks wrapped up a three game series with the Wisconsin Rapids Rafters on a chilly Saturday night at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archives-news"],"yoast_head":"\n