MWL Lake County Captains

Captains Come from Behind But Dayton Wins on a Walk-Off

August 18, 2021 - Midwest League (MWL)
Lake County Captains News Release


(Dayton, OH) - The Lake County Captains (49-43) fell behind early but came back to tie the game against the Dayton Dragons (49-43) but the Dragons rallied in the bottom of the ninth for a 3-2 walk-off win on Wednesday night at Day Air Ballpark.

Dayton struck first in the bottom of the second inning. Victor Ruiz led off with a solo home run to give the Dragons a 1-0 lead. Quin Cotton followed with a double, moved to third on a ground out and later scored on a sacrifice fly by Jacob Hurtubise to push Dayton's lead to 2-0.

The Captains cut Dayton's lead to 2-1 in the fourth, but Dragons first baseman James Free threw out two runners at home to retain the lead. Dayton starter Carson Spiers hit José Tena to begin the inning and Joe Naranjo followed with a single to left that advanced Tena to third. Two batters later, Victor Nova hit a grounder to first and Free threw out Tena at the dish. With one out and men on first and second, Gianpaul González punched a double into the right field corner. Naranjo scored from second, but the Dragons cut down Nova trying to score. Hurtubise fielded the ball in the corner and fired to Free who threw out Nova for the final out of the inning.

With one out in the bottom of the seventh inning Nova bunted back to the mound but beat the throw to first base for a bunt single. With two out Wilfri Peralta drew a walk to put runners on first and second base. Julian Escobedo delivered for the Captains with a single up the middle. Nova raced around third and crossed home plate standing up. The throw came in from center field to third base and that tag was applied on Peralta for the third out right as Nova crossed home plate. Nova was ruled to have crossed home plate before the tag was applied and the Captains had tied the game 2-2.

In the bottom of the ninth Eric Yang led off with a walk against Captains' reliever Tim Herrin. With one out Michael Siani singled up the middle to put runners on first and second. Next up was Ivan Johnson who hit a soft ground ball just in front of the mound. Herrin's only play was to third but the ball slipped out of his hand, landing harmlessly behind him for a throwing error. The bases were loaded with one out and James Free hit a fly ball to the warning track that landed for a walk-off single to give Dayton a 3-2 win.

Stevie Branch (1-0) earned the win with one scoreless inning in relief. He walked two and struck out two in the ninth.

Herrin (4-2) took the loss with 0.2 worked for the Captains. He allowed one unearned run on two hits and a walk.

Xzavion Curry is scheduled to start game three of the six-game series on Thursday night. First pitch at Day Air Ballpark is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.

Check out the Lake County Captains Statistics



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