MWL Lake County Captains

Lake County Drops Opener to Slugging Loons

Published on August 24, 2021 under Midwest League (MWL)
Lake County Captains News Release


(Eastlake, OH) - The Lake County Captains (52-45) fell to the Great Lakes Loons (52-45) 17-6 on Tuesday night at Classic Park. The Loons slugged six home runs in the contest to tie the Captains for first place in the High-A Central East division.

Great Lakes jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the top of the second inning. Andy Pages led off with a double down the left field line. Ryan January walked and Joe Vranesh smashed a double to right center that drove in both Pages and January. After a walk to Jonny Deluca, Leonel Valera struck out but Zac Ching doubled to left center that brought in Vranesh. With runners on second and third, lefty Zach Draper relieved right-handed starter Kevin Coulter and Ryan Ward crushed a three-run home run to give the Loons a six-run inning. The long ball tied Ward with his teammate, Pages, for the league lead with 23.

Raynel Delgado led off the bottom of the third for the Captains with a bunt base hit and he got to second base when the ball was thrown away by the Loons starting pitcher Jesus Vargas. A wild pitch from Vargas moved Delgado up to third. Next up was Gianpaul Gonzalez who poked a single to right field that brought in Delgado to make the score 6-1, Loons.

Ward struck again in the fourth to expand Great Lakes' lead. After Zac Ching hit a one-out single, Ward hit his second homer of the game. The two-run shot to right field gave Great Lakes an 8-1 lead and put Ward in sole possession of first place for the league home run lead.

The Loons hit back-to-back homers in the fifth. Pages led off the inning with an inside-the-park homer to right-center. Quentin Holmes and Jonathan Rodríguez both slid after the ball in the gap, but the ball pinballed away. Pages circled the bases for his 24th homer of the year, tying Ward again for the league lead. January followed with a solo shot to give the Loons a 10-1 lead.

More long ball trouble plagued Lake County in the sixth, as the Loons plated seven more runs to take a 17-2 lead. Ching led off the inning with a homer to center. Brandon Lewis later singled with two outs and Pages his his 25th homer of the year, a two-run shot to left to give the Loons a 13-1 lead and vault him back over Ward for first in the league in home runs. After Draper hit January with a pitch, Kellen Rholl came in from the bullpen. The lefty walked Vranesh and then gave up an RBI single to DeLuca that plated January. Rholl then hit Valera and Ching back-to-back to force home Vranesh. Back-to-back bases-loaded walks to Ward and Leonard scored DeLuca and Valera to cap the scoring.

Joe Naranjo gave the Captains their second run in the bottom of the sixth inning when he pumped a solo home run over the right center wall to make the score 17-2.

The Captains scored two more runs in the bottom of the seventh to make the score 17-4.

Gianpaul Gonzalez and Wilfri Peralta both walked. With two outs Naranjo bounced a single to right field that brought in Gonzalez. The next batter was Johnathan Rodriguez and he slapped a single to right on the first pitch he saw that scored Peralta.

Micah Pries reached on an infield single to lead off the eighth for the Captains. He was forced out at second when Julian Escobedo bounced into a fielder's choice. With Escobedo on first Christian Cairo smashed a single off the left field wall in his first at bat as a Captain. With one out Gianpaul Gonzalez walked to load the bases. After a strikeout, Peralta ripped a single to right that brought in Escobedo and Cairo to make the score 17-6, Loons.

Jesus Vargas (6-5) earned the win for the Loons. He tossed five innings, allowing one run on five hits with eight strikeouts.

Kevin Coulter (7-4) took the loss for Lake County after allowing five runs in 1.1 innings. He walked two with four hits and struck out one.

Tanner Burns is scheduled to start game two of the six-game series on Wednesday night. First pitch at Classic Park is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.

Check out the Lake County Captains Statistics

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Midwest League Stories from August 24, 2021


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