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MWL Lake County Captains

Captains Escape at Great Lakes

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


(Midland, MI) - Kevin Kelly helped the Lake County Captains (9-4) secure a narrow victory over the Great Lakes Loons (5-8) on Tuesday night at Dow Diamond. Kelly entered with the bases loaded and nobody out in the ninth inning, but struck out the side to give the Captains the win in game one of their six-game series.

The Captains got the scoring started right away in the top of the first inning. Brayan Rocchio and Will Brennan both singled to start the inning. With runners on the corners, Loons starting pitcher Alec Gamboa attempted a pick off to first base but threw the ball away, sending Brennan to second and scoring Rocchio. Gamboa walked José Tena and unleashed a wild pitch that moved Brennan to third and Tena to second. Aaron Bracho followed and lifted a sacrifice fly to right field to drive in Brennan and give the Captains a 2-0 lead after the first inning.

The Loons grabbed a run against Captains starter Hunter Gaddis in the third inning. Ryan Ward began the rally by rolling an infield single down the first base line. Miguel Vargas singled and James Outman walked to load the bases. Gaddis then issued a two-out walk to Deacon Liput to force home Ward and cut the Captains' lead in half at 2-1.

Lake County pulled away with seven runs in the fifth. Rocchio began the rally with an infield single and stole second. Loons reliever Ryley Widell then walked Brennan and threw a wild pitch that moved the runners to second and third. Tena came up next and lined a single to right field that scored Rocchio to give the Captains a 3-1 lead. Widell uncorked another wild pitch that plated Brennan to extend the Captains' lead to 4-1.

After Widell walked Bracho to load the bases, Zack Plunkett came in to relieve Widell, but the Captains kept rallying. Raynel Delgado worked a one-out walk to fill the bags again and Plunkett walked Jonathan Engelmann to force home Tena with the Captains' third run of the frame to make the score 5-1, Captains. Austen Wade followed and dribbled a grounder down the third base line. The infield single scored Bracho to extend the Captains' advantage to 6-1. Mike Amditis came up next and dealt the biggest blow of the inning. With the bases loaded and still just one out, Amditis ripped a ground ball double down the left field line. All three runners scored and the Captains took a 9-1 lead.

Great Lakes responded with four runs in the fifth to cut the Captains' lead to 9-5. Outman started the inning with a double. Captains reliever Kevin Coulter walked Joe Vranesh and Liput followed with a single to load the bases. Leonel Valera came up next and hit a bouncing ball to first baseman Joe Naranjo, who fired to second base to force out Liput, but Outman scored from third to trim Lake County's lead to 9-2.

A sensational play in Wade in centerfield helped limit the damage. WIth men on the corners and one out, Justin Yurchak hit a sinking line drive to right center. Wade raced to his left and made a diving catch. Vranesh tagged up and scored from third to reduce the Captains' lead to six runs at 9-3.

The Loons fifth inning continued, as Coulter walked Ryan January and Andy Pages knocked in Valera with an RBI single to make the score 9-4, Captains. Nic Enright came in to relieve Coulter. Before he could escape the inning, however, the right-hander balked home January to cut Lake County's lead to 9-5. Rocchio then bailed the Captains out with a stunning defensive play. On a hard ground ball by Ward, the Captains' third baseman made a sliding stop to his left and threw out Ward at first to end the inning.

In the top of the eighth, the Captains added an insurance run on Bracho's first home run of the season. Bracho ripped a line drive over the right field wall to make the score 10-5, Captains.

Great Lakes added another run in the bottom of the eighth inning. With one out, Kellen Rholl walked Ward, allowed a single to Vargas, hit Outman with a pitch and walked Vranesh to give the Loons a run. With the score 10-6, Rholl struck out Liput and forced a ground out to leave the bases loaded.

In the bottom of the ninth, the first three Loons reached against Rholl. The lefty hit Yurchak and January, back-to-back, and then walked Pages. Rholl then gave way to Kelly (3) with the bases loaded and nobody out. Kelly proceeded to strike out the next three Loons to leave the bases loaded and earn the save.

Enright (1-0) picked up the win for the Captains. The right-hander worked 2.1 scoreless innings. He allowed one hit, walked none and struck out two.

Gamboa (0-2) took the loss for the Loons. The lefty starter pitched four innings and surrendered two runs, both in the first inning. He gave up four hits, walked two and struck out two.

Tuesday's game featured 18 combined walks and four hit batsmen. The Captains' offense worked a season-high 10 walks and their pitching staff tied a season-high with eight walks. The game also lasted four hours and four minutes, marking the longest nine-inning game in Loons history.

L**ogan Allen** is slated to make his third professional start on Wednesday for the Captains. First pitch is set for 6:05 p.m. from Dow Diamond.
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