Chinooks Drop Game 1 of Doubleheader
June 19, 2025 - Northwoods League (Northwoods)
Lakeshore Chinooks News Release
MEQUON, Wis (WYATT BAUMEYER). - After a frustrating loss on Wednesday to the Wausau Woodchucks, the Lakeshore Chinooks failed to rebound in game 1 of Thursday's doubleheader.
Despite out-hitting the Woodchucks 10-8, Lakeshore surrendered 11 runs -eight of them earned - and failed to score a run, falling 11-1 and to ten games below .500 at 7-17.
The Chinooks' pitching staff allowed 13 walks, less than 24 hours after walking six in Wednesday's ninth-inning woes.
Pitching coach Aidan Wojciehowski pointed toward the track record of his pitchers as a reason for optimism during the team's pitching struggles.
"These guys have been pitching at a high level for their entire lives," Wojciehowski said. "They all have the capabilities to throw strikes, it's just finding the right mindset and approach and being able to adjust from the adversity they feel out there."
With the Chinooks playing 18 innings in a single day, the pitching staff needed depth from game 1 starter, right-hander Brandin Crawford. After Crawford finished his first two innings scoreless on just 27 pitches, the righty labored through a two-run, 32-pitching third that included three walks.
Crawford exited, failing to complete four innings, as right-hander Arthur Liebau entered in the fourth, trailing 2-0.
Liebau allowed six runs, three earned, over five innings; however, his ability to cover a majority of the game saved a tired Chinooks' bullpen from using a position player to pitch.
"Arthur stepped up big," Wojciehowski said. "It's something we really needed."
Despite Liebau providing much-needed length on the mound, the Lakeshore offense struggled to manufacture a "big" inning.
Lakeshore hit into three double plays in game 1, including a sharp lineout off the bat of shortstop David Hogg II in the fourth. The frustrating stat: the Chinooks had three hits after those double plays, a sign of what could have been a run-producing inning.
Though it wasn't pretty, Wausau starting pitcher, right-hander Mason Morello, went the distance, recording a complete game shutout.
Morello kept the Chinooks off balance all afternoon, but designated hitter Tyler Preece had the righty's number, going 3-4 and extending his hit streak to 12 games.
"I'm hunting certain pitches [fastballs] right now," Preece said. "It's just a lot of confidence out there."
Preece said despite the team's struggles at the plate, he's remaining calm and not pressing in a time of frustration.
"Baseball is such a hard game, failure is a part of it," Preece said.
The Chinooks return to Moonlight Graham Field at 6:35 p.m. for game 2 of Thursday's doubleheader against Wausau. Right-hander Koehn Thomas will start.
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