MWL Lake County Captains

Pair of Strong Starts Carry Captains to Doubleheader Sweep

Published on July 3, 2021 under Midwest League (MWL)
Lake County Captains News Release


(Eastlake, OH) - Hunter Gaddis and Kevin Coulter both worked career long starts to lift the Lake County Captains (29-24) to a doubleheader sweep of the South Bend Cubs (21-31) on Saturday at Classic Park. Game one was a walk-off come from behind 2-1 win for the Captains in extra innings. Lake County cruised in game two beating the Cubs 5-0 to take the series from South Bend

Game One

Ryan Jensen worked six perfect innings on the mound for the Cubs. He struck out three and did not allow a base runner.

Gaddis answered Jensen with six shutout innings on the mound for the Captains. It was the longest outing of Gaddis' career and he also struck out a career best eight.

With no score after seven innings the Cubs and Captains turned to extra innings. With reliever Jerson Ramirez on the mound for Lake County Jake Slaughter started on second base for the Cubs in the top of the eighth. Matt Warkentin started the innings with a double off the wall in left field. Slaughter held at second waiting for the ball to fall over the head of Victor Nova so he only advanced to third. Bradlee Beesley walked to load the bases. Harrison Wenson was next up for the Cubs. He hit a soft fly ball to left field that was deep enough to score Slaughter and put the Cubs on top 1-0.

In the bottom of the eighth José Tena started on second base for the Captains. Bryan Lavastida led off the inning with a sharply struck fly ball to right field. The ball fell just out of the reach of Velazquez in right. Tena held at second until the ball dropped, so he could only advance to third. The Cubs intentionally walked Joe Naranjo to load the bases. That set the table for Aaron Bracho who flipped a fly ball to center field that was deep enough to score Tena and tie the score 1-1. Lavastida advanced to third base and when the throw came into third Naranjo followed to second. Another intentional walk placed Ray Delgado on first to load the bases with one out. After a Nova strikeout Austen Wade came to the plate. With a 3-1 count to Wade the throw back to the pitcher got away and Lavastida raced home from third to give the Captains a dramatic walk-off 2-1 win.

Jerson Ramirez (2-0) recorded the win in relief for the Captains. He allowed one unearned run, struck out one and allowed one hit in his Captains debut.

Samuel Reyes (2-2) took the loss out of the bullpen for the Cubs. He allowed two runs on one hit

Game Two

Lake County got to work quickly in game two with three first inning runs. Will Brennan led off with a double and Brayan Rocchio got hit by a pitch. They moved to third base on a wild pitch. With two outs and Joe Naranjo up another wild pitch was unleashed by Cubs starter Joe Nahas which allowed Brennan to score and give the Captains a 1-0 lead. Later in the at bat Naranjo hit a ground ball to first base that escaped Grayson Byrd for an error allowing Rocchio to score. Delgado followed and smacked a single to right field advancing Naranjo to third. With runners on the corners Delgado took off for second and the throw went into center field when nobody covered the base. The second error of the inning allowed Naranjo to score the Captains second unearned run of the inning and make the score 3-0, Captains.

With one out in the bottom of the second Clark Scolamiero unleashed a long home run to right field for his second long ball of the year to put the Captains up 4-0.

Another long ball extended the Captains' lead to 5-0. With one out in the fourth, Mike Amditis drilled a solo homer to left-center field for his second home run of the season.

Coulter (4-3) tossed a career high five innings on the mound for the Captains without allowing a run to earn the win. He scattered three hits and struck out three.

Joe Nahas (1-1) worked four innings for the Cubs and took the loss. He allowed five runs, just three were earned on five hits and three strikeouts.

The Captains and Cubs will meet for the series finale on Sunday with Mason Hickman on the mound. First pitch for game one is set for 6:30 p.m. at Classic Park.

Check out the Lake County Captains Statistics

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Midwest League Stories from July 3, 2021


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