SAL1 Lake County Captains

Captains Win on Dog Day, 4-3

August 9, 2004 - South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Lake County Captains News Release


Eastlake, OH– A two-run error by shortstop Steve Gendron highlighted a three-run eighth inning for the Lake County Captains, who came from behind to split the series with the Greensboro Bats in front of 7,157 people and 670 dogs on Dog Day Monday night at Eastlake Ballpark.

Leadoff hitter Juan Valdes led off the Captains' (21-32) eighth with a single, followed by a walk to Chris De La Cruz. Ryan Goleski then bounced a groundball to short, and Gendron's throw to second went wide right, bouncing all the way to the wall down the first-base side. The errant throw allowed both runners to score and tied the game at three. Ryan Mulhern added a sacrifice fly, scoring Goleski and giving the Captains the lead for good.

Kevin Kouzmanoff continued his recent hot streak, going 2-for-3 with an RBI. He is hitting .500 (11-for-22) over his last six games, and has seven RBI's as well over that span.

Greensboro (17-27) scored runs on back-to-back homers by Jai Miller and Ryan Shade in the second, and on a sacrifice fly by Schade in the seventh. The Bats are just 17-42 on the road this season.

Nick Pesco started for the Captains, and struck out six batters in a row in the third through fifth innings. T.J. Burton (2-1) gets the win after giving up one run on two hits over three innings. Jim Ed Warden worked a perfect ninth inning to record his tenth save of the season.

The Captains have Tuesday off before opening up a three-game set with Capital City on Wednesday. Left-hander Dan Cevette will take the hill with a 7:05 p.m. start at Capital City Stadium.

Notes: Dog festivities for the 670 dogs in attendance included a pre-game dog race, largest dog contest, dog that looks most like its owner, loudest bark contest, dog with most Captains spirit, dog that looks most like Luis Rivera, dog that looks most like Casey Stump, cutest dog contest, and a post-game dog parade for all dogs in attendance that was led by the contest winners...There was also a pre-game ceremony honoring Smokey, a heroic dog from World War II...Fox 8 weather personality Dick Goddard was on hand for Dog Day, singing the national anthem and taking pictures with both dogs and owners...A dog named Dino delivered the game ball to the umpires...Captains' starter Nick Pesco has had a decision in each of his last five starts, two of them wins and three losses...Greensboro starter Paul Mildren made just his third start of the season, and threw 15 consecutive scoreless innings in seven appearances from 7.1 – 7.24...Entering the game, the Greensboro pitching staff has conceded a .304 average to opposing hitters on the road...The Bats entered their eighth game in August tonight with a .226 team batting average...Mildren had surrendered 107 hits in 79.1 innings, and combined with his 31 walks he entered the night with a 1.74 WHIP (walks/hits per inning)...Pesco had a 1.17 WHIP (86 hits, 26 walks in 98 innings)...The Captains have hit much better at Eastlake Ballpark then away from it, as they came into tonight's game with a .286 clip at home and .256 mark on the road...Lake County was hit by a pitch three times...Entering the game tonight, the Captains had hit .216 (21-97) and the Bats .224 (22-98) in the three-game series...The 670 dogs in attendance for the game outnumbered the 299 people in Columbus on Sunday by 371, and was just 31 less than the amount of people that watched Asheville visit Hagerstown...Greensboro has been outscored by 211 runs this season (733-522).

Check out the Lake County Captains Statistics



South Atlantic League Stories from August 9, 2004


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central