MWL1 Great Lakes Loons

Loons Sink Captains on Saturday Night

Published on July 27, 2013 under Midwest League (MWL1)
Great Lakes Loons News Release


MIDLAND, Mich. - The Lake County Captains (39-62, 16-18) scored in each of the first three innings, but the Great Lakes Loons (49-56, 22-13) exploded for six runs in the second to take control of the game and cruised to a 7-4 victory in the first game of a three-game series at Dow Diamond on Saturday night.

The first-place Bowling Green Hot Rods lost at the Lansing Lugnuts on Saturday night. With that Bowling Green loss and the Great Lakes win, the Loons are now just one game back of first place in the Midwest League Eastern Division.

Lake County scored in each of the first two frames to take an early 2-0 lead. Leadoff hitter Todd Hankins started the game with a double down the left field line and scored the first run of the night when he came home on a single from Dorssys Paulino, who was 2-for-3 in the game. Catcher Eric Haase scored in the second on a Nick Hamilton groundout.

All nine Great Lakes hitters reached base in the second inning and all six runs in the frame came with two outs. With two outs and no runners on base, the last three hitters in the Loons order - Jeremy Rathjen, Brandon Dixon and Jose Capellan - all singled and Rathjen scored the first run of the frame. Dixon and Capellan both scored on a single by leadoff hitter Robbie Garvey. After a Malcolm Holland walk, Corey Seager drove in Garvey from second. Holland scored on an Aaron Miller single and Seager scored the last run of the inning on a wild pitch.

"We were aggressive tonight and attacked strikes up at the plate tonight," Loons manager Razor Shines said. "It all happened in one inning when things kind of unraveled for Lake County. We were fortunate to come out of that situation with a big inning."

Garvey, Seager and Rathjen all had multi-hit games for Great Lakes, with two hits each. Garvey and Seager had two RBI.

"I was just looking for fastballs when I went up there," Rathjen said. "Early on, I got a few and I was able to put the bat on it."

"All month, Jeremy has been real good and has picked things up," Shines added. "He was mired in a season-long slump when this month started and he's dug himself out of it by working hard. He's reaping the benefits and I'm really proud of him.

Captains starter Dylan Baker (6-6) was pulled with two outs in the second inning, but was responsible for all six runs and took credit for the loss. Baker gave up eight hits and two walks in 1 2/3 innings of work, with no strikeouts.

Julio Urias, the Dodgers' No. 4 prospect at just 16 years old, started for the Loons. With a limited pitch count, Urias only threw two innings. He gave up two runs on three hits, while striking out three and walking one.

Paulino doubled to left-center field in the third to score Hankins to cut Lake County's deficit to 6-3.

Geoff Brown (9-1) pitched four solid innings of relief for Great Lakes, holding the Captains to one run on three hits. Brown picked up the win for the Loons, while striking out four and walking three.

The Captains got 4 1/3 innings of scoreless relief from D.J. Brown, who kept Lake County in the game by keeping Great Lakes off the scoreboard, while giving up just two hits and picking up four strikeouts.

Both teams scored in the seventh inning. Captains cleanup hitter Joe Sever doubled down the right field line to score Logan Vick in the road half of the frame. In the bottom of the inning, Seager, the Dodgers' No. 2 prospect, crushed a 405-foot home run to right-center field to extend the Loons lead to 7-4.

"It was a different kind of lefty that I was facing in that at-bat and he let one get too much of the middle part of the plate," Seager said. "I was able to put a good swing on it and was lucky enough to have it to go as far as it did."

Craig Stem threw a scoreless ninth inning for Great Lakes to finish the game and pick up his 14th save of the season.

Logan Vick and Zach MacPhee each multi-hit games for Lake County.

The Loons are back in action on Sunday afternoon, as they host the Captains for the second game of a three-game series at Dow Diamond. Game time is 3:05 p.m. Dodgers 2013 first-round draft pick Chris Anderson (2-0, 1.96 ERA), who is Los Angeles' No. 7 prospect, is expected to make his seventh start of the season for Great Lakes. Robbie Aviles (3-3, 4.26), a 6-foot-4, 200-pound right-hander is slated to start for the Captains. Sunday is Super Splash Day at Dow Diamond, as well as a Family Fun in the SUNday, with kids running the bases after the game.

Check out the Great Lakes Loons Statistics

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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.

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