Dock Spiders Rally Late in Win

FOND DU LAC, WI – The Fond du Lac Dock Spiders tallied their fourth comeback victory of the year, as they came back from a 4-3 deficit to beat the Lakeshore Chinooks 5-4 at Kapco Park on Monday night.

The win saw the Dock Spiders improve on their franchise-best start, tallying their seventh win of the year, while the Chinooks fall to 1-7, six games behind the Dock Spiders in the Great Lakes West Division. The Dock Spiders also kept pace with the Wisconsin Rapids Rafters, who defeated Wausau on the road to improve to 7-1. Both teams are tied for first place in the division, three games clear of the Madison Mallards.

Lakeshore struck first, tallying their first run of the game with a single before the Dock Spiders struck for three runs in the third to take a 3-1 lead. Nick Mitchell (Western Illinois), Alejandro Macario (Nova Southeastern) and Connor Manthey (Bradley) all tallied RBI base hits.

After scoring two in the fifth to tie it up and one in the seventh, the Chinooks took a 4-3 lead into the eighth, before Evan Stone (South Carolina) singled home Manthey to tie it at four. Then, Stone’s South Carolina teammate Cole Messina lined a double down the right field line to score Stone and give the Dock Spiders the lead for good.

Garrett Houston (Georgia-Gwinnett) earned the save, throwing two shutout innings with two strikeouts. Christian Ruebeck (Kansas State) earned the win in relief, working through four walks to keep the Lakeshore offense at bay.

The Dock Spiders enter their only off day of the first half tomorrow, before returning to Herr-Baker Field on Wednesday to face the Green Bay Rockers at 6:35 p.m. The game starts a stretch of 28 games in 27 days to finish the first half, which ends on July 4.