Chinooks fall to Bullfrogs in Tenth, 3-1
From beautiful new state of the art Kapco Park on the Concordia University campus in Mequon, the Lakeshore Chinooks (9-7) fell 3-1 to the Green Bay Bullfrogs (8-8) in Northwoods League play Thursday evening.
An error, fielder’s choice mistake, and a passed ball all with two outs in the tenth inning, proved to be pivotal in a pitcher’s duel. DJ Slaton (San Jose State) picked up the win for Green Bay, while Tyler Sparger was saddled with the loss to fall to 0-1 for the Chinooks on a night in which the first 750 fans 21 and older received Leinenkugel’s fishing lures.
The Bullfrogs got the scoring started in the top of the second inning when a Duncan McAlpine (Dallas Baptist) single scored a sliding Justin Seager on a throw to the plate to put the ‘Frogs up 1-0. After loading the bases, Chinooks starter Andrew Waszak (Michigan State) settled down and forced Green Bay into a double play that cut the damage to just one run.
After Lakeshore squandered a two-out triple by Charlie Markson (Notre Dame) that kept Markson’s 13-game hitting streak alive in the bottom of the third inning, they bounced back to strike in the fourth. Infielder German Reyes (Winston Salem) led off with an infield single off of Taylor Black (Texas State) before stealing second on a pitch that skipped past the catcher. Reyes, drafted by the Boston Red Sox in 2007, then advanced to third base on a groundball out to the right side by Eric Aguilera (Illinois State) before scoring on a chop single by Ryan Krill (Michigan State) to knot the game up at 1-1.
No team would put more than one runner on base again until the seventh inning when the Bullfrogs threatened with two runners aboard. But once again Waszak was able to get out of the jam, causing a flyout to right field. Waszak finished with one run allowed, three hits, four walks, and four strikeouts over seven innings of work.
The Chinooks were able to put a runner in scoring position in the bottom half of the inning when Zack Granite (Seton Hall) was able to reach on a walk and advanced to third on an error by the ‘Frogs catcher on his stolen base attempt, but a groundout ended the scoring opportunity.
Sparger entered the game in relief for the Chinooks in the eighth inning and pitched two scoreless frames to lead Lakeshore into the bottom of the ninth still tied at 1-1.
The Chinooks did all they could in the inning except score. Lakeshore loaded the bases with one out, but Ty Young (Louisville) struck out swinging and Markson flied out to first base to end the scoring chance.
The Bullfrogs capitalized on several tenth inning Chinooks miscues to take the lead in the top of the frame. After Sparger loaded the bases all with two outs, Green Bay’s Clayton Eslick hit a sharp grounder up the middle that was snagged by Reyes. Rather than throwing to first for the sure force out, Reyes flipped the ball to second late and the runner was safe to bring in a Bullfrogs run. Then a passed ball brought in a second run for Green Bay. Will Landsheft closed it out for the save in the bottom half of the inning and the Bullfrogs left Kapco Park with a 3-1 victory.
The Chinooks face the Bullfrogs in a rubber match tomorrow evening. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05.
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