Total Team Offensive Outburst Leads Lakeshore to 18-9 Win

Mequon, Wis. – The Wisconsin Woodchucks scored nine runs total in their four games prior to Wednesday night’s contest. Wednesday night in Mequon, they scored nine, their most runs since their 10-9 win in extras against Rapids on July 26. But it wasn’t enough. The Lakeshore Chinooks (37-30; 19-13) erupted for 18 runs, the second-most Wisconsin has allowed this year, to dispatch the Woodchucks (24-44; 9-24) 18-9 at Kapco Park, decisively winning the 2017 season series six games to two.

The high-powered Lakeshore offense got started early and it hardly ever stopped – Lakeshore scored in all but one inning Wednesday, but it was actually Wisconsin that got on the board first. Logan Foster began the game with a walk and Trey Dawson plopped a double on the right-field line to put two men in scoring position, and Yeager Taylor drove Foster home with a sac fly to put Wisconsin up 1-0.

They never led again. Jack Dunn, Joe Duncan and Rylan Thomas all scored in both of the first two innings, helped by a Duncan triple in the first and a Thomas homer in the second. Dunn was back at it in the third, singling home a run and scoring for the third inning in a row to stake Lakeshore to a 9-1 lead.

The Chinooks struck for two more runs, both unearned, in the fourth, anchored by a Brian Sobieski RBI single, but Wisconsin finally answered back. Against Alec Marsh, who shutout Wisconsin over eight innings last month, the Chucks put together a three-run fifth. Hunter Larson led off with a bloop single and Caeden Harris followed with a walk and Foster drove them both home with a double before he scored himself on a double steal with Dawson.

Any momentum Wisconsin may have seized was snatched immediately back by Lakeshore in the bottom half of the inning. Duncan led off with a walk and scored on an RBI triple by Matthew Mika, who then scored on a sac fly to make it 13-4. The lead became 10 in the next inning when Dunn drove in Mitch Mallek on a fielder’s choice for his second RBI of the ballgame.

To their full credit, the Woodchuck hitters did not go away, striking for another three-spot in the seventh against Marshall Oetting. With one out, Foster walked and Hunter Coleman singled, and Dawson drove them both in with a 2-RBI triple before he scored on another Taylor sac fly to pull Wisconsin within seven.

Drew Spaeth tossed a perfect seventh for the Chucks, the only one of those by a Wisconsin pitcher all night, to keep Lakeshore off the board for the first and only time. That allowed Wisconsin to pull within five in the eighth. With two outs, Larson was hit by a pitch and Harris walked, and Foster drove them both in with a 2-RBI triple of his own.

But Lakeshore saved its best for last, striking for four runs, all unearned, off Spaeth in the eighth. Mallek singled but Dawson turned a double play, but then Drake Lubin reached on an error to get the rally going. Dunn singled and Duncan drove Lubin home before pinch-hitter Charley Hesse drove in two more with a base knock. Thomas was a triple away from the cycle and bashed a ball to the wall to bring Hesse in, but he was tagged out going to third, a few feet from the feat. Chad Fleischman doubled for Wisconsin in the ninth, but the Chinooks held firm to preserve a comfortable 18-9 win.

In his final game of the summer, Dawson finished a home run away from the cycle himself, driving in two runs and scoring once. Foster may have found a new home in the leadoff spot, reaching base all five times he came up with a double, a triple, three walks, four runs driven in and three runs scored in the losing effort.

Wisconsin will finally head back home as it closes the 2017 season with four straight games at Athletic Park. The Madison Mallards will head to Wausau Thursday night desperate for a win to stay in the playoff hunt. First pitch on Thursday is scheduled for 6:35 PM.   

Tickets are on sale to all Wisconsin Woodchucks home games and can be purchased online by calling 715.845.5055 or by stopping by the Woodchucks front office during normal business hours.

Tim Hackett, Broadcasting Intern