MEQUON, Wis \u2014 The Lakeshore Chinooks fell down a similar path Saturday evening against the Green Bay Rockers.<\/p>\n
Leading 7-3 entering the sixth inning, left-hander Chance Covert II took the mound for his second inning in relief of Chinooks starter Dominic Monaco. Immediately, Covert found himself in a jam after walking Rockers\u2019 third baseman Eric Jeon and allowing a single to left fielder Stefan Di Corrado.<\/p>\n
The southpaw executed to his next batter, Rockers\u2019 designated hitter JP Peltier, by inducing a lazy groundout to Chinooks\u2019 first baseman Grant Gray; yet Grant Gray made an errant throw attempting to catch the runner Peltier off guard at second base, allowing a run to score and kickstarting a five-run rally that gave Green Bay an 8-7 lead and victory.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe’ve got to find a way to get back in control of what we\u2019re in control of,\u201d Chinooks\u2019 Pitching Coach Aidan Wojciehowski said of how that fateful sixth inning spiraled out of control.<\/p>\n
After Grant Gray\u2019s error, Covert allowed three consecutive singles before exiting, unable to recover from his early troubles.<\/p>\n
Wojciehowski said when situations went poorly in Saturday\u2019s game, his pitchers needed to stay on the attack and \u201cin the green zone.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you get into that mode [the green zone], it\u2019s fun to pitch,\u201d Wojciehowski said.<\/p>\n
Likewise, Chinooks\u2019 first base coach Peyton Holyoak felt that the Chinooks\u2019 offense failed to be aggressive and became complacent as the game progressed, as evidenced by the team not scoring a run after the fourth inning.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe kind of just chug along,\u201d Holyoak said. \u201cWe\u2019re not having them [good at bats] to the level that we would have liked.\u201d<\/p>\n
Holyoak said the Chinooks haven\u2019t put together a complete game of consistency, saying they either start hot and cool off or start cool and heat up too late.<\/p>\n
If Lakeshore desires to play a complete game, Holyoak said the offense must put together competitive at-bats, the pitching staff must execute in the strike zone and the defense must improve.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we want to play a complete game, we\u2019re going to have to execute on all of the levels that we need to,\u201d Holyoak said.<\/p>\n
Despite failing to add on after the fourth, the Chinooks piled seven runs in the first four frames, including a two-run homer from second baseman Esteban Garcia, who has raised his OPS near .800 over a recent hot-stretch at the plate.<\/p>\n
\u201cI sat back and let the ball travel,\u201d Garcia said of his approach before hitting his second home run of the season.<\/p>\n
Garcia said he\u2019s felt comfortable at the plate over his hot streak due to knowing he\u2019ll get a chance to perform every day.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think once you remember that you play every day, you stop pressing and you can find a rhythm,” Garcia said.<\/p>\n
Garcia finished Saturday night 3-5 with three RBI, but pointed to his shortcomings with the game on the line instead of his success\u2014Garcia flew out with the tying run on first base and just an out in the bottom of the ninth.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m happy to come through when I can, [but] it sucks that I couldn\u2019t come through at the end,\u201d Garcia said.<\/p>\n
Lakeshore ends the first half Sunday afternoon back at Moonlight Graham Field against the Rockers.<\/p>\n
First pitch is scheduled for 1:05 p.m. CDT.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MEQUON, Wis \u2014 The Lakeshore Chinooks fell down a similar path Saturday evening against the Green Bay Rockers. Leading 7-3 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":18245,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-team-news"],"yoast_head":"\n