MWL1 West Michigan Whitecaps

Caps Flirt With History, Hold On For Shutout

Published on August 2, 2012 under Midwest League (MWL1)
West Michigan Whitecaps News Release


COMSTOCK PARK, MI - The West Michigan Whitecaps were two outs away from history on Thursday night.

After setting down the first 25 batters of the game in order, the Whitecaps had both a perfect game and a no-hitter broken up with one out in the ninth inning of a 6-0 victory over the Lake County Captains at Fifth Third Ballpark.

West Michigan (19-20, 55-54) settled for a three-hit shutout to snap a season-long five-game losing streak, putting them in position to split a four-game series with Lake County (21-18, 52-56) heading into the homestand finale on Friday.

Starter Jeff Ferrell (4-4) was the man of the hour, setting the tone with seven perfect innings and earning the win. He retired all 21 of the batters he faced in the flawless outing, inducing 11 groundball outs and fanning six before being removed with a 6-0 lead after 79 pitches.

Jade Todd added a 1-2-3 eighth inning and Dan Bennett recorded the first out of the ninth as the trio combined to retire the first 25 Captains' hitters of the night.

The bid for history ended with one out in the ninth when Leonardo Castillo hit a hard bouncer towards third baseman Jason King. After an initial hesitation, King backed up but could not handle a two-hopper that bounced up and hit him in the face, leaving the third baseman bloodied and writhing on the ground. Though the play was initially ruled an error, the scoring was changed following the ballgame to reflect Lake County's first hit of the night.

While the injury looked scary at first, King was quickly treated by trainer T.J. Saunders and was able to stay in the game.

At the time, the no-hitter was still intact and Bennett went on to strike out Yhoxian Medina for the second out of the ninth. The crowd rose to their feet in anticipation of the final out, but Jose Ramirez took the first pitch he saw and ripped a clean single into right field to eliminate any doubt that the no-hitter had been broken up.

That prevented West Michigan from recording the fifth no-hitter in franchise history and the first no-no since 2000.

The Whitecaps led throughout, snatching an early 2-0 lead on consecutive two-out, run-scoring hits by Aaron Westlake and Jeff McVaney in the first inning. The 'Caps put the game away with a four-run outburst in the seventh inning that was highlighted by a two-out, three-run double from Brandon Loy.

Cody Anderson (4-6) suffered the loss for Lake County after surrendering two runs on four hits over three innings of work.

The Whitecaps close a brief homestand at Fifth Third Ballpark with the finale of a four-game series against the Lake County Captains at 7:00 p.m. on Friday night. RHP Chad Smith (0-0, 0.00) is scheduled to take the hill for West Michigan against LHP Shawn Morimando (4-3, 3.44) of Lake County. Former Tigers' World Series champion Howard Johnson will be on hand for a Tiger Friday featuring a pre-game bobblehead doll giveaway and post-game fireworks. Group and individual tickets can be reserved by calling the Whitecaps front office at 616-784-4131 or visiting www.whitecapsbaseball.com.

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Midwest League Stories from August 2, 2012


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