SAL1 Lake County Captains

Captains Shock Suns, Stay in First-Half Race

Published on June 9, 2005 under South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Lake County Captains News Release


(Hagerstown, MD)—Juan Valdes stroked a two-run single in the top of the ninth inning Thursday, capping a four-run rally that lifted the Lake County Captains to a 5-4 victory over the Hagerstown Suns at Municipal Stadium.

The win stunned the first-place Suns, who held the Captains to five hits and one run over the first eight innings. The Captains have won two of the first three games of the series, and are now two games out of first place behind the Suns and Lexington Legends. Lexington defeated West Virginia Thursday to move into a first-place tie.

Trailing 4-1 entering the ninth, the Captains faced Suns closer Carlos Muniz, who pitched 1 2/3 innings in Wednesday's games. Muniz walked Brian Barton and Fernando Pacheco to start the inning, and then yielded a broken-bat single to Chad Longworth to load the bases with no outs. Brian Finegan followed with a double off the wall in center, scoring Barton and Pacheco to make it 4-3.

After a ground out to third by Chris Gimenez, Juan Valdes stroked a single to right through a pulled-in infield. Longworth scored to tie the game, but Finegan slipped and fell coming around third. He scrambled to his feet and broke for the plate as the throw came to third. Third baseman Grant Psomas, expecting Finegan to be diving back into third base, applied a sweeping tag, but Finegan was crossing the plate to give the Captains a 5-4 lead.

Kieran Mattison came on in the bottom of the ninth and retired the Suns in order for his 10th save. Scott Roehl (3-3) picked up the win for the Captains.

The Suns (37-24) managed just one hit off Captains starter Chuck Lofgren, but took advantage of five walks. After back-to-back walks in the fourth, Deron Watts drove in a run with an RBI groundout for a 1-0 Suns lead. The Suns added two unearned runs in the fifth against Adrian Schau to take a 3-0 lead.

Argenis Reyes doubled off Suns starter Gabby Hernandez in the sixth, took third on a groundout, and scored on a grounder to short by Wyatt Toregas to make it 3-1 Hagerstown.

Psomas homered off Roehl in the eighth to make it 4-1.

Reyes had three hits for he Captains (35-26), including a pair of doubles. The game-winning single by Valdes extended his hitting streak to nine games.

The Captains and Suns will wrap up the series on Friday evening at 7:05 (WELW AM 1330).

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South Atlantic League Stories from June 9, 2005


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