MWL1 Lake County Captains

Loons Thump Captains on Memorial Day

Published on May 28, 2018 under Midwest League (MWL1)
Lake County Captains News Release


(Eastlake, OH) - A gorgeous Memorial Day afternoon at Classic Park turned into a nightmare for the Lake County Captains (21-30). In the finale of their four-game series against the Great Lakes Loons (17-32), the Captains lost, 14-5. The Loons won the last three games to take the series.

Captains starter Kirk McCarty held the Loons' bats fairly quiet over the first five innings. Great Lakes scratched across a run in the fourth when Brayan Morales reached with a bunt single and scored on a double by Jared Walker. That gave the Loons a 1-0 lead, but the Loons were otherwise held in check to that point.

In the sixth, Great Lakes jumped on McCarty to balloon the lead to 5-0. After a walk and a single, Carlos Rincon blasted a three-run homer to left field. Two batters later, Mitchell Hansen hit a solo shot. McCarty exited the game following Hansen's homer with two outs in the sixth.

Lake County had been held hitless by Loons starter Alfredo Tavarez, but Great Lakes went to the bullpen in the sixth and the Captains feasted on right-hander Riley Ottesen. Todd Isaacs broke up the no-hitter with a leadoff triple into the left field corner and Jesse Berardi followed with an RBI double down the right field line to plate Isaacs. Ottesen then went wild. He uncorked two wild pitches to score Berardi and issued back-to-back walks to Will Benson and Oscar Gonzalez. After the walk to Gonzalez Loons Pitching Coach Bobby Cuellar and Athletic Trainer Chris McNeely came out to look at Ottesen and the righty was pulled from the ballgame with the Loons' lead trimmed to 5-2 and two men on with nobody out.

Lefty Austin Hamilton entered the game and Nolan Jones connected. The lefty batter slammed an opposite-field homer to left-field to tie the score at 5-5.

After the Captains' monster sixth inning, the Loons took control. Great Lakes scored nine unanswered runs over the final three innings to clinch the ballgame. The Loons took the lead again in the seventh. Captains reliever Riley Echols hit Moises Perez to start the inning. Perez moved to second on a wild pitch and then tagged up and reached third on a fly ball to left field by Morales. The Captains brought the infield in and Brandon Montgomery hit a hard smash to shortstop that bounced off of Berardi for an RBI single, giving the Loons a 6-5 lead. Later in the inning, an RBI single by Carlos Rincon against lefty reliever Skylar Arias scored Montgomery to push the advantage to 7-5.

Great Lakes added another run in the eighth on an RBI single by Morales, but the Loons' offense exploded in the ninth. They plated six runs on four hits against relievers Manuel Alvarez and Jonathan Teaney to make the score 14-5. Rincon, Ramon Rodriguez and Perez hit RBI doubles off of Alvarez and Hansen hit a sacrifice fly against Alvarez. Montgomery connected on a two-run homer against Teaney.

Hamilton (2-0) picked up the win despite a blown save. The left-hander gave up one run on three hits over two innings. He struck out two and did not walk a batter. Dan Jagiello pitched two perfect innings and struck out one to earn his second save of the year. The Loons' pitching staff did not allow a Captains run or hit outside of the sixth.

Echols (1-2) took the loss. He allowed two runs in 2/3 of an inning. Echols gave up one hit, hit one batter, walked one and did not record a strikeout.

Rincon led the Loons' offense with a five-RBI performance that included a home run, a double and a single. He went 3-for-4. Montgomery also had three RBI and Hansen had two. Hansen and Perez each recorded three hits. Morales, Montgomery and Walker each tallied two knocks.

Lake County will hit the road for a three-game series at the Lansing Lugnuts on Tuesday. First pitch for game one at Cooley Law School Stadium is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.

Information about Classic Park or the Captains can be found online at www.captainsbaseball.com and by phone at 440-954-WINS (9467). Affordable ticket packages and group party and picnic options are available now.

Check out the Lake County Captains Statistics

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Midwest League Stories from May 28, 2018


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