MWL1 West Michigan Whitecaps

Defense Dooms West Michigan To Late Loss

Published on May 23, 2013 under Midwest League (MWL1)
West Michigan Whitecaps News Release


DAYTON, OH - The West Michigan Whitecaps suffered another gut-wrenching loss on Thursday night, committing three errors and a series of additional defensive misplays in a 7-6 loss to the Dayton Dragons at Fifth Third Field.

West Michigan (20-24) out-hit Dayton (19-27) by a 13-to-7 margin but could not overcome a shoddy defensive effort that increased their year-to-date error total to 66 miscues. Despite the self-inflicted mistakes, the Whitecaps took a 6-5 lead into the bottom of the eighth inning.

With one out in the eighth, Dayton's Joe Hudson ripped a double down the third base line to chase reliever Julio Felix from the game. Guido Knudson took over next, but allowed a 2-2 single to Zach Vincej that tied the score.

Still, it looked like the 'Caps would escape the inning with the game even at 6-6. Vincej was at first with two outs when Joe Terry lifted a high fly ball towards the foul line in left field. Danry Vasquez raced a long way to get to the spot but slightly overran the play and missed the baseball. It was ruled an RBI-double for Terry as Vincej scored to give the Dragons the decisive 7-6 edge.

Sean Lucas (5) worked around a two-out error in the ninth to lock down the save and give Ben Klimesh (2-0) the win. Klimesh, who moments earlier had allowed the Whitecaps to take a 6-5 lead on a solo home run from Mario Martinez, worked 1.1 innings out of the Dayton bullpen.

Knudson (0-1) was charged with the loss as well as a blown save, allowing one run on two hits in two-thirds of an inning.

The late drama was merely a continuation of a tightly contested game that swung back and forth throughout.

The Whitecaps got off to a fast start on their way to tagging Dragons' starter Drew Cisco for five runs on 11 hits, both of which were season-highs for the right-hander. West Michigan rallied for four consecutive one-out singles in the top of the first, including a pair of run-scoring knocks by Jeff Holm and Lance Durham. One inning later, Zach Kirksey belted a leadoff homer in the second to give West Michigan a 3-0 lead.

Dayton responded with five unanswered runs between the third and fifth innings. Tanner Rahier homered to put the Dragons on the board in the third while Jeff Gelalich singled and came around to score an unearned run in the fourth. In the fifth inning, two errors, a pair of walks and just one hit allowed Dayton to add three more runs and jump out to a 5-3 advantage.

West Michigan battled right back in the top of the sixth when Jared Reaves tied the score with a two-out, two-run double. The score remained even until the eighth, when Martinez drove an opposite-field solo homer to right to give the Whitecaps a short-lived 6-5 advantage.

The Whitecaps continue their six-game road trip with the finale of a three-game series against the Dayton Dragons on Friday night at 7:05 p.m. LHP Jordan John (2-3, 4.01) is scheduled to take the mound for West Michigan against RHP Sal Romano (4-3, 3.28) of the Dragons. The next home game at Fifth Third Ballpark will be the extremely popular Dime Dog Night on Tuesday, May 28 at 6:35 p.m. Group and individual tickets can be reserved by calling the Whitecaps front office at 616-784-4131 or visiting www.whitecapsbaseball.com.

Check out the West Michigan Whitecaps Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Midwest League Stories from May 23, 2013


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