Cheerful Chinooks glad to be back

Tommy Lamb’s family has hosted several Lakeshore Chinooks players over the years at their home in Grafton.

After last season was canceled due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Lambs were ready for another summer guest. Only this time, it isn’t a stranger.

It’s their son. Tommy, a 2019 Grafton High School graduate who just completed his freshman season as a pitcher for the University of Oklahoma, is living at home for the summer while making the short commute to play baseball in Kapco Park at Concordia University Wisconsin in Mequon.

“It was awesome going home for the summer so people in Grafton can see me play,” Lamb said on Sunday at the team’s first gathering of the season.

Lamb is aware he will be handling more than duties on the mound. Being one of the few players from the area, he is a go-to guy for expertise on the area and playing in a stadium next to a large body of water that brings in a cold breeze and occasional fog.

“Some guys are already like, ‘I’ve got to go buy long-sleeve shirts,’” Lamb said.

Lamb is a just few minutes closer to the park than another area player, Griffin Doersching of Greendale, who is back with the Chinooks after playing 59 games with the team in 2019.

“It’s a 28-minute drive,” he said of his commute to the park.

Doersching is a first baseman who attends Northern Kentucky University and hit .178 with nine home runs for the Chinooks in 2019.

That’s fewer than he hit on June 29, 2019, alone, when he clobbered 51 to win the College Home Run Derby in Omaha, Neb., where it was 98 degrees with a heat index of 106.

“It feels good to be back. It makes me happy. I love this place,” Doersching said in between warming up on Sunday.

Doersching said new teammates ask him questions about Wisconsin, but what to do for fun garners an easy answer.

“This is the fun,” he said of playing baseball.

Dalton Doyle, a third baseman from Eastern Illinois University, was supposed to play with the team last year and now got to make the trip to his summer home in Thiensville and take in some “new scenery that I’m not used to,” he said.

Regardless of where he plays, Doyle said he is happy to again be taking the field after working out on his own 12 months ago.

“It’s amazing,” the business management major who will start grad school in fall said of playing again. “Last summer was definitely a drag.”

Forming bonds at the speed of fastballs

With one day to prep — the Chinooks played their first game on Monday already — players know camaraderie must develop as fast as the Indianapolis 500 cars traveled on Sunday before practice started.

Finding commonality can come from playing together in other leagues or attending the same schools,

“Relationships build quick,” Doersching said.

“That’s probably the most unique thing about baseball,” veteran coach Travis Akre said. “Guys acclimate. Baseball’s a brotherhood.”

Seeing the team come together is one of the most enjoyable parts of the job for Akre, who traveled from his home in Minnesota to spend the third summer with the team.

Some guys have competed against each other but once they put on the Chinooks’ uniforms, “It’s all for one,” Akre said.

They’ve got something else in common too. After missing last season, “I think these guys have all sat back and got the appreciation for the ability to play,” Akre said.

Some players are still finishing their college seasons and will join the team later, and many won’t spend the entire summer with the team. Chinooks General Manager Eric Snodgrass said as many as 65 players cycle through the team. Akre recruits players through his coaching contacts.

The schedule is busy­ — 72 games in 76 days.

“The goal is to get these guys acclimated to a Minor League schedule,” Akre said.

The Chinooks started with a 7-2 loss at the Madison Mallards on Monday. Lamb started and allowed four earned runs and five hits in 4-1/3 innings, walking three.

Doyle and second baseman Nathan Rose from Bowling Green had RBI singles. The Chinooks stranded 14 runners.

The Chinooks’ home opener is against the Fond du Lac Dock Spiders at 6:35 p.m. Thursday.