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Lake County Captains

Armendariz Delivers Again with Clutch Homer

July 24, 2016 - Midwest League (MWL1)
Lake County Captains News Release


Appleton, WI - For the second day in a row, David Armendariz came through big for the Lake County Captains at the plate. Behind Armendariz's three-run home run in the seventh inning, the Captains took home a 6-2 victory over the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers on Sunday afternoon at Fox Cities Stadium.

The Captains trailed 2-0 heading into the seventh inning and had already missed out on three previous opportunities with runners in scoring position. They got another chance when Connor Marabell drew a leadoff walk against reliever David Lucroy and Martin Cervenka followed with a single. Armendariz then came up and blasted a deep fly ball to centerfield. The shot landed just to the left of the batter's eye and into the Lake County bullpen for a three-run homer to give the Captains a 3-2 lead.

The previous day, Armendariz had delivered in a similar situation. The Captains were trailing Wisconsin by two runs in the ninth when Armendariz cleared the bases with a three-run double to put Lake County on top. He had also homered earlier in that game. The Captains went on to lose the series opener on a walk-off home run by Isan Diaz, but Armendariz's heroics on Sunday paid dividends.

Lake County tacked on an extra run in the seventh inning on a good-luck double by Willi Castro. Bobby Ison had doubled with two outs and Castro popped up a fly ball to shallow center. Wisconsin shortstop Luis Aviles raced out while centerfielder Troy Stokes, Jr. hustled in to try to make the catch. The fielder's collided and the ball fell to the grass, allowing Ison to score on the double. Both Timber Rattlers fielders were ok and continued in the game, but the two-bagger helped the Captains take a 4-2 lead.

Ison and Castro helped the Captains add insurance in the ninth inning to put the game away. After Armendariz and Sam Haggerty doubled, Ison roped a single to center to score Armendariz. Castro then plated Haggerty on an RBI ground out to give the Captains a 6-2 advantage.

Kieran Lovegrove pitched the last two innings in relief to earn his fifth save of the season. Lovegrove struck out three men and only gave up one hit. Leandro Linares earned the victory in relief. Linares (1-1) pitched 2.2 frames of scoreless baseball and struck out five me. He surrendered two hits and walked one.

The Captains had to battle from behind thanks to early runs by the Timber Rattlers against Lake County starter Matt Esparza. In the first inning, Major League rehabber Domingo Santana worked a walk, Diaz doubled and Lucas Erceg hit a sacrifice fly to give Wisconsin a 1-0 lead.

Esparza held the Timber Rattlers in check and only gave up one hit in the first four innings, but the right-hander struggled with control and walked his fourth batter of the game with one out in the fifth. Alan Sharkey drew the base on balls and stole second base. With a man in scoring position and one out, however, heavy rain interrupted play for 16 minutes. After the delay, the Captains brought Linares in out of the bullpen and, two batters after play resumed, Santana hit a single to score Sharkey. Esparza was charged with the run and the only two runs he surrendered were scored by batters he had walked.

Lucroy (1-6) took the loss for Wisconsin after giving up the four-run seventh inning. The right-hander pitched 3.2 innings out of the bullpen and surrendered four runs on four hits. He walked three and recorded no strikeouts.

The Captains and Timber Rattlers have split the first two games of the series, setting up a rubber game on Monday. First pitch at Fox Cities Stadium is at 1:05 PM ET.

Individual game tickets are on sale at the Classic Park box office, online at captainsbaseball.com and by phone at 440-954-WINS (9467). 12-, 20-, and 35-game mini ticket plans for the 2016 season are on sale now at great prices complete with several exclusive benefits. Information can be found at the Captains website www.captainsbaseball.com.

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