Kipp's Gem and Nwogu's Fearless 4th Propel Cubs to 3-2 Win

Sports stats



MWL South Bend Cubs

Kipp's Gem and Nwogu's Fearless 4th Propel Cubs to 3-2 Win

August 20, 2024 - Midwest League (MWL)
South Bend Cubs News Release


SOUTH BEND, IN - Grant Kipp delivered six shutout innings Tuesday night in an utterly unflappable outing in which he at one point retired 15 straight, and only needed 68 pitches to record 18 outs.

Kipp and Ethan Hearn worked in perfect unison all night en route to Kipp's longest shutout outing of his career. The righty from Yale picked up his first win of the season and first in his time in High-A. For a man who missed a bulk of the season with a forearm injury, he's now cruising toward a stellar August and end to the season.

On a night where both starters had their best stuff, it was Marlins No. 15 prospect Karson Milbrandt who blinked first. The hard-throwing 20-year-old faced just one over the minimum in his first three innings, tallying five strikeouts over that span. But in the fourth South Bend put up a three-spot on him, all with two outs. Andy Garriola drilled a double to the wall in left to begin the inning, extending his on-base streak to 11 games. Two batters later Cristian Hernandez, in his Four Winds Field debut, singled the opposite way to right. The singled extended the 20-year-old's hit streak to seven games and gave the Cubs men at the corners with one down. With two down Jordan Nwogu cleared the bags with a double to left-center. On the next pitch he swiped third, and on the next offering he scored on a wild pitch.

Up 3-0, Kipp worked through the fifth and sixth in scoreless fashion, stranding a two-out double in the sixth from Colby Shade.

After picking up just two hits against Kipp in six innings, a call to the bullpen brought life the Sky Carp offense in the seventh. Ryan Ignoffo smacked his second hit of the night to begin the inning, a double off of Nico Zeglin. An opposite field single from Kemp Alderman advanced the runner to third with nobody out. Zeglin came right back though, striking out Yiddi Cappe, getting Brock Vradenberg to pop-out on the infield, and Wilfredo Lara lined out to short to end the inning with no runs scoring.

The Sky Carp left two aboard in the seventh, and they would leave the bases loaded in the eighth. Jay Beshears picked up an infield single to start the frame. Mark Coley II got punched out and when Zeglin induced another infield pop-out, this time from Shade, it looked like he would again give the Cubs two scoreless innings out of the bullpen. But Gage Miller got hit by a pitch and Zeglin's night was done. In came Mitchell Tyranski. The lefty walked Ignoffo to load the bases, however he came back and got Alderman to tap a comebacker to the mound to erase the threat.

South Bend could never add insurance on a night in which Xavier Meachem, who leads the Sky Carp in saves, came on first out of the bullpen and really had his 'A' stuff.

Tyranski came back out for the ninth and Beloit got to him with four base hits. Cappe singled to start the inning and two batters later he wound up at third on a long double to left off the bat of Wilfredo Lara that Jordan Nwogu dove but could not catch on the warning track. Beshears singled passed Ramirez at third to bring home a run and make it 3-1. Dalvy Rosario pinch ran for him at first and promptly stole second base. With two outs in the inning, Shade smoked a ball up the middle that drilled into Tyranski's shoe, bounced to his right and everyone was safe. Now in a 3-2 game, Nick Lovullo called upon Jose Romero to get the final out.

Shade stole second to put the go-ahead run in scoring position, however, Gage Miller bounced out to third base to end the ballgame.

The Cubs started their longest homestand of the year, a 12-gamer, with a thrilling one-run victory.

Check out the South Bend Cubs Statistics

• Discuss this story on the Midwest League message board...

Midwest League Stories from August 20, 2024


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