While the night began so promising, it ended with a dud as the Wisconsin Woodchucks fell, 7-4, to the Lakeshore Chinooks Wednesday night at Kapco Park.
The Woodchucks knocked Chinooks’ starting pitcher GJ Strauss out after the first inning. In that first inning, the Woodchucks (3-6) batted around as Strauss allowed four walks and one hit by pitch, in addition to third baseman Paul DeJong’s single. Three Woodchuck runners scored in the frame, spotting Wisconsin to a 3-0 lead.
The Chucks added another in the fourth on DeJong’s sacrifice fly, making Wisconsin’s advantage 4-0. However, the offense stalled from there on out against Lakeshore’s pen, which allowed just one run on one hit in eight innings.
Meanwhile, the Chinooks (7-2) offense tallied seven unanswered runs in closing out the victory. They got on the board in the fourth inning against Woodchucks starter Robby Medel when a walk was followed by two singles. However, Medel got out of the jam surrendering just the one run, ending his night with a line of one run on two hits and one walk, to go along with six strikeouts in his four innings of work.
Lakeshore tied the game in the fifth against Woodchucks’ reliever Zach Butler, and tacked on another against southpaw Kaylor Chafin in the seventh. Two more in the eighth against right-hander Patrick Kenney gave the Chinooks their sixth and seventh runs of the game.
The Woodchucks tallied just two hits on the night, one from DeJong and one from center fielder Alex Krupa, and went hitless through the final five frames.
The Woodchucks are back in action on Thursday night in the finale of their two-game set with Lakeshore. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 P.M.
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The Wisconsin Woodchucks are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwood’s League. Playing its 21st season of summer collegiate baseball, the Northwood’s League is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 18 teams, drawing significantly more fans, in a friendly ballpark experience, than any league of its kind. A valuable training ground for coaches, umpires and front office staff, more than 115 Northwood’s League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (DET) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (CWS), Jordan Zimmermann (WAS), Curtis Granderson (NYM), Allen Craig (STL) and Ben Zobrist (TB). All league games are viewable live via the Northwood’s League YouTube channel. For more information, visit woodchucks.com
