Lansing Tops Loons on July 4

The Loons led 4-2 into the bottom of the eighth inning with Juan Rodriguez on the mound. Rodriguez had been dominant in the game, retiring all four of the previous batters he had faced, three on strikeouts. But to begin the eighth, he walked the first two. That was followed by a failed bunt attempt by Chris Hawkins for the first out of the inning.

At that point, Yimi Garcia relieved Rodriguez. He surrendered an RBI double to Andy Burns to pull Lansing to within one. Kevin Pillar followed with a single to shortstop against a drawn-in infield to tie the score. Then after an intentional walk to Kevin Patterson to load the bases, Gustavo Pierre drove home two with a double off the wall in left field. Later in the inning, an error by second baseman Jesus Arredondo cost the Loons two runs.

In the wild eighth inning, Lansing scored six times on just three hits plus three walks, a hit batsman and an error.

Loons starter Duke von Schamann allowed his first run as a professional in the bottom of the first inning on a Chris Hawkins RBI single.

The Loons responded in the top of the second, stringing together three consecutive singles, the third a run-producing hit by Jeff Hunt.

Carlos Perez homered to lead off the third and give Lansing a 2-1 advantage.

The Loons claimed their first advantage with two in the fourth on an RBI groundout by Jesse Bosnik and an RBI single by Jan Vazquez. Great Lakes added one more to go up 4-3 in the sixth on an RBI single by Bosnik.

Garcia (4-2) took the loss, charged with two earned runs (four total) in two-thirds of an inning. Blake McFarland (4-2) was credited with the win following a 1-2-3 eighth inning with two strikeouts. Lugnuts pitching retired the final 11 Loons batters of the game.

The Loons (5-8 second half, 39-44 overall) and Lugnuts (7-6, 53-28) continue their three-game series Thursday evening at Cooley Law School Stadium. Game time is 7:05pm. Right-hander Arismendy Ozoria (4-4, 4.37 ERA) is scheduled to start for the Loons. The Lugnuts are scheduled to start lefty Justin Nicolino (3-1, 1.74). The game will be broadcast live on ESPN 100.9-FM and ESPN1009.com.

The Great Lakes Loons are a sixth-year Single-A partner of the Los Angeles Dodgers and are in the middle of their 5th Anniversary Celebration, which kicked off in August 2011 and will continue throughout the 2012 season. For more information about the Loons, visit Loons.com or call 989-837-BALL.

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Midwest League Stories from July 4, 2012

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