Loons-Whitecaps Split Doubleheader, Great Lakes Wins Game One on Walk-off Wild Pitch
MWL Great Lakes Loons

Loons-Whitecaps Split Doubleheader, Great Lakes Wins Game One on Walk-off Wild Pitch

Published on July 18, 2026 under Midwest League (MWL)
Great Lakes Loons News Release


MIDLAND, Mich. - The Great Lakes Loons (52-34) (16-6) and West Michigan Whitecaps (37-50) (13-10) played 15 innings of baseball with Great Lakes winning game one 3-2 and West Michigan taking game two 11-2 on a 69-degree cloudy and hazy Saturday night at Dow Diamond.

Game One - Loons 3, Whitecaps 2 - 8 innings

- Chuck Davalan and Logan Wagner each notched their 13th home run of the season. Wagner started the scoring with a 423-foot solo homer to deep right field. Wagner has 13 longballs in 46 games played. Davalan has hit a round-tripper in three of his last four games. The 422-footer up the right field line made it 2-0.

- Loons' starter Zach Root struck out five in five innings. The Whitecaps plated two in the fourth inning aided by a Great Lakes error.

- Nicolas Cruz and Davis Chastain combined for a scoreless final three frames. Cruz worked around a balk in the sixth inning. Chastain struck out two in the eighth, with the placed runner only reaching third base.

- Great Lakes had a batter reach in each of the final three innings of regulation but could not score.

- In the bottom of the eighth, Victor Rodrigues after two missed bunt attempts was able to groundout to push the invisible runner Samuel Munoz to third base. Chuck Davalan worked a 10-pitch walk, with the tenth pitch to the backstop from Thomas Bruss to give the Loons their fifth walk-off win of the season.

Game Two - Whitecaps 11, Loons 2

- West Michigan hit three home runs, Cristian Santana smacked two of them. Santana put the Whitecaps on the board in the second inning, a two-run shot. He started a six-run sixth inning with a solo homer.

- West Michigan's Caleb Shpur hit his first home run in his 40th game of the season. Sphur gave the Whitecaps an 8-2 lead.

- Cameron Decker went 3-for-3, he hit a triple in the third inning and was plated on a Chase Adkison sacrifice fly.

- The Loons went 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position.

Rounding Things Out

The Loons did not hit a home run in game two of the doubleheader. It ended their 18 games with a home run streak. The streak that started on June 24th saw 34 home runs across 18 contests.

Up Next

The rubber match between Great Lakes and West Michigan is tomorrow Sunday, July 19th. Sunday is Inclusion Day in partnership with Corteva Agriscience. The goal is to bring together every demographic possible, serving as outreach to our community partners and non-profit organizations who support inclusion activities within the Great Lakes Bay Region.

Every Sunday at Dow Diamond, Kids Eat Free and Run the Bases presented by Serra Toyota Saginaw. The first pitch is at 1:05 p.m. ET.

Check out the Great Lakes Loons Statistics

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



Midwest League Stories from July 18, 2026


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