\n\t \n<\/p>\n
\n\tMequon, WI- The Lakeshore Chinooks (8-5) defeated the Fond du Lac Dock Spiders, 9-3, Thursday night, as Matthew Mika and Cole Gnetz helped lead the Chinooks to victory in the first game after the all-star break.\n<\/p>\n
\n\tMatthew Mika (Central Florida) picked up right where he left off before the all-star break, as he led off the game for the Chinooks with a double in the bottom of the 1st<\/sup>. Rylan Thomas (Central Florida) then doubled home Mika, as Lakeshore jumped out to the early 1-0 lead.\n<\/p>\n \n\tMatthew Mika was not done, as he went yard for his third time of the season in the bottom of the 2nd<\/sup>. The home run was a grand slam, bringing home Tim DalPorto (Kent State), Connor Kimple (Oklahoma State), and Drake Lubin (Eastern Michigan), giving the Chinooks a commanding 5-0 lead.\n<\/p>\n \n\tLater in the inning, Caleb Dean (Lamar) singled home Joe Duncan (Eastern Illinois), as the Chinooks took the 6-0 lead. Spiders’ starter, Ryan Connolly, couldn’t make it out of the 2nd<\/sup> inning, as the Chinooks plated five in the inning.\n<\/p>\n \n\tFond du Lac got on the board for the first time in the top of the 3rd<\/sup>, thanks to a costly error from Joe Duncan. K.V. Edwards skied a ball to left field, but Duncan couldn’t complete the catch, as Edwards made it all the way to third base on a three-base error. Edwards later came home to score on a Thomas Luevano RBI groundout, as the Spiders then trailed 6-1.\n<\/p>\n \n\tEric Gilgenbach connected for his eighth long ball of the summer, as he led off the top of the 5th<\/sup> for Fond du Lac with a solo home run to cut the Chinooks’ lead to four.\n<\/p>\n \n\tThe Spiders tacked on another run in the top of the 7th<\/sup>, as Eric Gilgenbach picked up his second RBI of the game. After Andrew Bullock led off the inning with a single, Gilgenbach later hit a sacrifice fly, plating Bullock.\n<\/p>\n \n\tThe Chinooks put up their seventh run of night in the bottom half of the 7th<\/sup> inning, as Tim DalPorto knocked in Caleb Dean with a sacrifice fly of his own.\n<\/p>\n \n\tIn the bottom of the 8th<\/sup>, Lakeshore tacked on another two runs, thanks to some sloppy play from Fond du Lac. With Joe Duncan attempting to steal 2nd<\/sup> base, Spiders’ catcher, Nick Fortes, made a wild throw that got into center field that allowed Matthew Mika to come home and score. Rylan Thomas later hit a line drive to the right-center gap that allowed Duncan to score, as Thomas rolled into 3rd<\/sup> with an RBI triple.\n<\/p>\n \n\tJoe Heineman (Baylor) came on in the top of the 9th<\/sup> to try and secure the Chinooks’ 9-3 lead, and did so successfully. Heineman retired the Spiders without allowing any runs, and Lakeshore went home with a win.\n<\/p>\n \n\tChinooks’ starter, Cole Gnetz (Miami-Ohio), was very good in this game, allowing just three runs (two earned) over 6.1 innings, surrendering four hits and a walk, while striking out four. Gnetz also picked up his third win of the season, as he lowered his ERA to 4.28.\n<\/p>\n \n\tMatthew Mika was nothing short of spectacular in the game, going 3-5 with a grand slam. Not surprisingly, Mika was rewarded with Northwoods League Player of the Night honors following his performance.\n<\/p>\n \n\tAfter the game, Mika said about the grand slam, “I knew off the bat it was gone. It was a good feeling.”\n<\/p>\n \n\tWhen asked how he was able to carry over the momentum from the all-star break, Mika said, “Just going out there and doing what I do best, just having fun. When you’re having fun, you don’t think about anything, it’s just about enjoying the game and enjoying it with the team.”\n<\/p>\n \n\tMika, representing the Chinooks in the Northwoods League All-Star Game, said about the experience, “I had a little bit of a break. I didn’t start, which was not too bad, but I came in, I had an opportunity and I got that done, so I couldn’t ask for anything more.”\n<\/p>\n \n\tThe Lakeshore Chinooks (8-5) will square off against the Dock Spiders again Friday night in Fond du Lac, as Alec Marsh (Arizona State) takes the ball with a chance to sweep the Spiders.\n<\/p>\n