Overconfident Pitching Dooms Chinooks in Ugly 20-7 Defeat

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Northwoods Lakeshore Chinooks

Overconfident Pitching Dooms Chinooks in Ugly 20-7 Defeat

June 17, 2025 - Northwoods League (Northwoods)
Lakeshore Chinooks News Release


GREEN BAY, Wis.- Down to their last out in the bottom of the ninth inning, Nate Gray stepped into the batter's box at Capital Credit Union Park. He lined a solo home run over the short but tall right field wall off the video screen.

Gray's long ball cut the Rockers' lead to 13.

After winning three straight games, the Chinooks have now lost their last three. The latest defeat was the ugliest of the season- a 20-7 rout in Green Bay against the Rockers.

"Ugly," Chinooks manager Mikel Moreno called the blowout. "I don't even care about winning baseball, it's not competitive baseball."

For the skipper, the offense was competitive. At least competitive enough.

"We had good at-bats for the most part," he said. It wasn't an issue of poor offense, rather overconfident pitching.

The Rockers hung 20 runs on the Chinooks, all but one scored in the first five innings.

Just like Monday night's 9-0 loss to the Rockers, Lakeshore only got two full innings from their starting pitcher. Dylan Escobar threw just 32 pitches, allowing four runs, but only two were earned on a two-run home run.

Escobar didn't go nearly as deep as the Chinooks hoped. Moreno described the lack of length as a trickle down effect.

"Everyone is bumped up," he said. "We got to take guys what we're gonna use (tomorrow) and use them today and pray whoever's throwing tomorrow can go four or five innings to save the bullpen."

Frustrated by the lack of competition, Moreno didn't like how his pitchers were looking to strike guys out rather than induce soft contact.

"It's selfish baseball...it's got to be contact (first)," he said, adding none of the Lakeshore pitchers were in a position to be aiming for swing and misses.

As a result of their "selfish" approach, too many free passes were issued.

"It's hard to compete when you're walking two guys an inning...it's really embarrassing," Moreno said.

"Everyone knows that you got to throw strikes," pitching coach Aidan Wojciehowski said after the game. The Chinooks didn't do enough strike-throwing in Green Bay.

Jackson Bahn and Aaron Robinson alone combined to allow eight of Lakeshore's 11 free passes. Even with some life in the offense, the pen dug them too deep of a hole.

Only Jacob Jacome, the fourth 'Nooks pitcher of the night, could stop the bleeding. Even with the Redlands, Calif. native pitching a scoreless inning, it was simply meaningless in the bigger picture.

Wojciehowski wants his guys to understand how much of a gift it is to be competing on a daily basis.

"Every time you're on a baseball field, it's a privilege," he said. "Every day is a new opportunity."

The 'Nooks hit the reset button before turning right back around to begin a three-day homestand against the Wausau Woodchucks.



Northwoods League Stories from June 17, 2025


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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