MWL Lake County Captains

Captains Squander Two Leads in 11-5 Loss

Published on August 10, 2021 under Midwest League (MWL)
Lake County Captains News Release


(Eastlake, OH) - The Lake County Captains (44-41) relinquished two separate leads in an 11-5 loss to the West Michigan Whitecaps (41-44) on Tuesday night at Classic Park.

The Captains jumped on West Michigan starter Brendan White in the first inning. White walked Julian Escobedo and George Valera to open the game. With two on, José Tena lined a single up the middle to drive in Escobedo. With Tena on first and Valera up to second Micah Pries chopped a ground ball to shortstop that got past Gage Workman into center field for an error that allowed Valera to score and Tena to reach third base. With runners on the corners Victor Nova bounced a ground ball through the right side for another RBI single to give the Captains a 3-0 first inning lead.

After Ulrich Bojarski homered to put West Michigan on the board in the third, the Whitecaps came back to tie the game in the fourth. Andrew Navigato singled through the left side to begin the frame. Daniel Cabrera came up next and hit a bouncer to first base and Joe Naranjo's throw to second hit Navigato in the back. Eric De La Rosa then hit a grounder to Naranjo and the first baseman's throw pulled Tena off the second base bag, but Cabrera thought he was out and strayed too far from the base. The Captains chased him down for the first out of the inning. De La Rosa then stole second base and Captains starter Kevin Coulter walked Rey Rivera to load the bases. Gage Workman followed with a game-tying two-run double to the left-center field alley that scored both Navigato and De La Rosa to even the score at 3-3. After a walk to Jose King loaded the bases with two outs, Tim Herrin came in to strike out Cooper Johnson and leave the bags full.

The Captains regained the lead in the bottom of the sixth. Naranjo flared a single to left with two outs and advanced to second on a passed ball. Raynel Delgado then ripped an RBI single to right-center to give the Captains a 4-3 edge.

In the top of the eighth West Michigan scored five runs to go ahead 8-4. Navigato led off the inning by slicing a soft double down the right field line. With nobody out, Cabrera reached on a controversial catcher's interference call. Captains' manager Greg Dicenzo argued the call and was ejected. With runners on first and second, Eric de La Rosa poked another double down the right field line that drove in Navigato and tied the game 4-4. With runners on second and third, Captains reliever Kevin Kelly struck out Rey Rivera for the first out of the inning. The Captains intentionally walked Workman to load the bases. With one down Kelly struck out Bojarski for the second out. Jose King was up next for West Michigan and he lifted a high fly to left field that cleared the wall for a go ahead grand slam.

In the bottom of the eighth Tena led off with a home run to right field to make the score 8-5, Whitecaps. The Captains later loaded the bases with one out, but reliever Zack Hess got a pop out and a strikeout to leave the bags full.

Jimmy Kerr snuck a single up the middle to lead off the ninth for West Michigan. He moved up to second on a wild pitch with one out, then advanced to third on a Cabrera groundout. Eric de La Rosa drove in Kerr with another soft single on the ground that was knocked down by Tena but he could not make the play. Next up was Rey Rivera and he connected on a towering blast that cleared the center field fence for a two-run home run to put West Michigan ahead 11-5.

Bryce Tassin (2-5) earned the win with a scoreless 1.1 innings out of the bullpen. He did not allow a base runner and struck out two.

Kelly (1-4) allowed five runs in his one inning of work to take the loss. He allowed three hits and walked one with three strikeouts.

Tanner Burns gets the start for the Captains in game two of the six-game series. First pitch at Classic Park is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.

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