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MWL1 Lake County Captains

Captains Tie Season-High with Five-Game Winning

August 19, 2016 - Midwest League (MWL1)
Lake County Captains News Release


Fort Wayne, IN - The Lake County Captains extended their winning streak to five games on Friday night with a 3-2 victory over the Fort Wayne TinCaps at Parkview Field. Casey Shane delivered another stellar performance to earn his third win in his last four tries and the Captains held on tight to fend off a ninth-inning rally by Fort Wayne in the series opener.

Shane's night got off to a bumpy start, but the right-hander recovered just in time. After allowing a run in the first on an RBI double by Carlos Belen, Shane allowed the TinCaps to load the bases with one out in the second. The TinCaps could have broken the game wide open, but Shane got Peter Van Gansen to sky out to center and the fly ball was too shallow for Alan Garcia to think about tagging up from third. Shane then punched out Kodie Tidwell looking to end the inning and keep the TinCaps' lead at 1-0.

The Captains' offense rode Shane's momentum into the top of the third. Jodd Carter reached with one out when a slow roller went under the glove of Belen at third. Carter took second on the two-base error and Martin Cervenka drove him home with a double to right-center, tying the game at 1-1. Two batters later, Bobby Ison gave the Captains the lead. He grounded a single to center that scored Cervenka. Ison was thrown out at second trying to advance when the throw from center came home, but the RBI knock gave the Captains their first lead of the night at 2-1.

Shane kept dealing to keep the Captains in front. After loading the bases in the second, Shane set down 10 consecutive Fort Wayne batters, including six strikeouts. The string finally ended when Shane walked Tidwell with two outs in the fifth, but Shane kept pitching scoreless baseball through the end of his outing, which came with two outs in the seventh.

Before Shane was lifted from the game, the Captains gave their starter an extra insurance run that later turned out to be critical. In the top of the fifth, Anthony Miller shot a line drive double to right-center and Garcia, the right fielder, failed to cut the ball off. The ball rolled under his glove and to the wall for a single and an error. Willi Castro came up next and lined a double that just got past the dive of left fielder Jose Carlos Urena. Miller scored easily on the two-bagger and the Captains took a 3-1 lead.

Shane held the TinCaps off the scoreboard until his exit in the seventh, but Fort Wayne pulled closer against the Lake County bullpen. Facing Cortland Cox in the eighth, the TinCaps strung together three straight one-out hits and scored a run on an RBI single by Brad Zunica to cut the Captains' lead to one run at 3-2. Cox got out of the inning, leaving the tying run on second, but more trouble brewed in the ninth.

Cox struck out the first two men looking in the ninth inning, but Fort Wayne quickly put together a dangerous two-out rally. Van Gansen singled and Chris Baker came in to pinch run for him. Tidwell then singled, moving Baker to second with the tying run and putting the winning run on first with Austin Allen coming to the plate.

Kieran Lovegrove came in from the bullpen to try to close out the ballgame and the right-hander did just that. Lovegrove got Allen to hit a grounder to shortstop and Castro threw him out at first to end the game. Allen never made it out of the batter's box on the play and went down clutching his left ankle while Castro recorded the final out.

Shane (8-10) earned the victory after recovering from a shaky start. The right-hander threw 39 pitches in the first two innings, but came back to throw only 45 pitches over his final 4.2 innings of work. All together, Shane went 6.2 innings and allowed just one run on five hits. He tied a season-high with seven strikeouts and walked just two. All three of Shane's seven-strikeout games, incidentally, have come against Fort Wayne. Lovegrove nailed down his sixth save.

Nix (2-7) suffered the loss despite only giving up one earned run. The right-hander lasted five innings and was burned by three errors behind him, giving up three runs, one earned, on five hits. He walked two and struck out three.

Lake County has won five straight for the second time this year and the first time since mid-April. The TinCaps are now on a six-game losing streak. The Captains and TinCaps meet again on Saturday night at Parkview Field in the second game of the four-game series. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 PM.

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-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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