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 Great Lakes Loons

Loons Force Extras; Win 3-2 in Tenth

August 20, 2011 - Midwest League (MWL1)
Great Lakes Loons News Release


MIDLAND, MI - After recording only two hits over the first eight frames, the Great Lakes Loons rallied in the ninth to tie the Bowling Green Hot Rods, before going on to secure the 3-2 victory in the tenth inning of Saturday night's game on Blake Dean's bases-loaded sacrifice fly. The Loons snapped a three-game losing streak with the win, in front of a sell-out Dow Diamond crowd of 5,825 fans.

Riding the momentum of the ninth inning, the Loons loaded the bases in the tenth against Bowling Green's reliever Chris Rearick, who had started the inning with a strikeout. After a brief mound visit that involved all of the Hot Rods position players, Dean stepped to the plate facing a defensive shift of five infielders.

"You try not to pay too much attention to it," Dean said after the game of the formation. "Obviously it's a little different, but at the same time you still have the same goal: just hit the baseball hard somewhere."

Dean got a piece of Rearick's 3-1 pitch, sending it to right field, just deep enough to score Charlie Mirabal from third for the walk-off win.

The Loons rally began in the ninth inning, when Nick Akins cracked a double to left field that moved him and Dean into scoring position with no outs. Chris Jacobs hit into a groundout that scored Dean and advanced Akins, who scored during the next at-bat on a Austin Hubbard wild pitch to tie the game and send it to extra innings. All four of the Loons hits were doubles.

Loons reliever Bret Montgomery extended his shutout streak to 25.2 innings, after pitching in the tenth for Great Lakes. The righty has not allowed an earned run since July 10, and picked up his seventh win Saturday night. Starting for the Loons was lefty Greg Wilborn, who pitched a solid six innings, allowing six hits and two unearned runs. The Hot Rods nine-hole hitter Robi Estrada hit a two-run double to left field in the sixth, but both runs were unearned due to a fielding error by Casio Grider that otherwise would have ended the inning. Loons relievers Raul Burgos and Andrew Pevsner combined for three hitless frames, while Bowling Green's Rearick took the loss.

The Loons will play game two of their four-game series against the Bowling Green Hot Rods on Sunday at 2:05 p.m. RHP Tim Sexton (3-2, 3.10) will get the start for the Loons opposite Bowling Green's RHP Eliazer Suero (7-5, 4.67). It's Family Fun in the SUNday at Dow Diamond, where kids have the opportunity to run the bases after the game courtesy of Farm Bureau Insurance.

The Great Lakes Loons are a fifth-year Single-A partner of the Los Angeles Dodgers and members of the Midwest League. For more information about the Loons, visit Loons.com or call 989-837-BALL.


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