First Place Secured, Cubs Take Down Sky Carp 6-2
MWL South Bend Cubs

First Place Secured, Cubs Take Down Sky Carp 6-2

Published on August 15, 2025 under Midwest League (MWL)
South Bend Cubs News Release


Beloit, WI - For the first time since winning the Midwest League Championship in 2022, the South Bend Cubs have a first place lead in the West Division. That's after a 6-2 victory, and the Cubs sixth straight win, topping the Beloit Sky Carp on Thursday night at ABC Supply Stadium. The Cubs have won 11 of their last 15 games, and now lead Beloit by one-game in the division race.

For a second time this series, South Bend came back to beat Beloit after the Sky Carp scored a single run for the game's first lead. Despite Beloit scoring only one run in the 4th inning, the Cubs shut down multiple opportunities that Beloit had to put up much more. Right-hander Kevin Valdez got the start for South Bend, and In the 1st inning, the hard-throwing right-hander stranded Cam Cannarella at third base. Beloit also left two men on-base in the 2nd.

The 4th inning featured the game's first run, as Echedry Vargas drove in Garret Forrester via a sacrifice-fly. The bases were loaded at the time for Beloit, and the two other base-runners both tagged and advanced 90-feet on the sacrifice. The Cubs appealed a throw to second base that Jacob Jenkins-Cowart left the bag early on his way to third base, and South Bend won the appeal. Jenkins-Cowart was called out, and the inning was over with limited damage done.

The appeal ended up being a huge call, because the Cubs tied the game in the next half-inning. Brian Kalmer launched his seventh home run of the season, making it a 1-1 game after five innings.

An inning later in the top of the 6th, South Bend put together its second five-run rally in a single inning of the series, posting five runs. The Cubs utilized five hits in the inning, plus a walk against lefty Brayan Mendoza. Ariel Armas drove in two runs on a triple, and Rafael Morel tagged in two more on a double. Kalmer singled later in the frame, and finished with two RBI in the game.

For Armas, he now has 21 hits in 12 games in August, hitting .488 this month. Armas' August OPS is 1.267.

Out of the South Bend bullpen, rehabbing Chicago Cubs right-hander Yency Almonte worked 0.2 innings in his sixth appearance out of the Cubs bullpen. Marino Santy pitched a scoreless 7th, Grayson Moore worked a shutout 8th, and Jackson Kirkpatrick fired a 1-2-3 9th to cap off the win.

South Bend possesses is a 25-19 record in the second half, and now will defend their first place spot for the first time in game four of the series at Beloit on Friday night. First pitch is set for 7:05 PM ET with Kenten Egbert on the mound in search of the Cubs seventh straight victory.

Check out the South Bend Cubs Statistics

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



Midwest League Stories from August 15, 2025


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