Eli Benes<\/p>\n
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich.- Suffering a sweep to divisional opponent Wausau over the weekend, the Lakeshore Chinooks traveled to Traverse City on Monday, August 3 looking to get back in the win column versus the Pit Spitters.<\/p>\n
The Chinooks played a two-game set against Traverse city nearly a week prior on July 28-29 at home, sweeping the Pit Spitters by just a four-run margin. Like both games in July against the Pit Spitters, the Chinooks trailed early in Monday’s contest as Traverse City scored two first-inning runs.<\/p>\n
Following a leadoff double on two strikes by Jacob Kucharczyk, the Pit Spitters scored their first run of the game thanks to a infield error committed by the Chinooks. In the next at bat, the Pit Spitters extended their early lead on a single from Ethan Guerra.<\/p>\n
Allowing two runs (one earned) in his first 10 pitches of the game, Dylan Weekly retired the next three batters he faced to limit the damage. Trailing early, the Chinooks went 2-11 at the plate through the first three innings, scoring zero runs with Nathan Webb on the mound.<\/p>\n
In the bottom of the third inning, Webb received additional run support, as the Pit Spitters scored a run on a crafty double steal. Needing to find momentum on offense after a slow start, back-to-back walks to open the fourth inning put a runner in scoring position for the Chinooks.<\/p>\n
Despite pressure on the basepaths, a flyout and caught stealing quickly made it two outs. In the same at bat as the caught stealing, Aukai Kea extended the inning and got the Chinooks on the board for the first time with a RBI double.<\/p>\n
Kea’s double in the fourth was one of two hits on the day for the Chinooks’ catcher. Threatening to respond in the bottom half of the inning, the Pit Spitters were held scoreless by Dylan Weekly after having runners on second and third with two outs.<\/p>\n
Going four innings, Weekly did enough to hold the Pit Spitters on offense with five strikeouts on nine whiffs. Down 3-1 after four innings complete, the Chinooks continued their two-out offense.<\/p>\n
With runners on first and second base down to their last out in the inning, Jack Counsell tied the game with a crucial two-run double. Pulling Weekly after four innings of work, recent Akron University commit Nate Ciemny came in to pitch for the Chinooks.<\/p>\n
The Pit Spitters greeted Ciemny in the bottom of the fifth inning by scoring a run on a Zach Carlson RBI single, taking back the lead. After allowing the RBI single and two singles in total in the inning, Ciemny went the rest of the game, holding the Pit Spitters hitless and scoreless.<\/p>\n
It was late in Ciemny’s dominant showing that the Chinooks took advantage, with a Toufic Khabie two-run double being the deciding swing in a come from behind 5-4 Chinooks win.<\/p>\n
Driving a 1-0 pitch from Josh Klug to deep center field, Pit Spitter Jacob Kucharczyk lost the ball in the lights allowing the ball to drop. The eventual game-winning double came on two outs, with all five runs scored by the Chinooks occurring on two outs.<\/p>\n
With the win, the Chinooks are 13-6 in games decided by one run and lead the Great Lakes West by a half game with five games remaining in the regular season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Eli Benes TRAVERSE CITY, Mich.- Suffering a sweep to divisional opponent Wausau over the weekend, the Lakeshore Chinooks traveled to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":19391,"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-19390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-team-news"],"yoast_head":"\n