MWL Great Lakes Loons

Rain Delays Loons 6-3 Win

June 25, 2021 - Midwest League (MWL)
Great Lakes Loons News Release


MIDLAND, MI - A pair of homeruns powered the Great Lakes Loons (23-23) to a Friday night win over the Lake County Captains (25-21), 6-3. 20-year-old Andy Pages drove his 14th homerun of the year to center field in the bottom of the seventh, providing two insurance runs in Friday's late stages. Leonel Valera tallied his ninth homerun of the series, his second homer in as many nights against Lake County. Justin Yurchak recorded his first triple of the season in the bottom of the seventh inning, tallying his seventh-consecutive multi-hit game.

Jesus Vargas (W, 5-2) lasted 3 2/3 innings in relief for starter Logan Boyer, recording his longest Loons outing of the year with 1 1/3 innings. Lake County's Tanner Burns (L, 2-3) soldiered through his eighth start, allowing three earned runs in 4 1/3 innings, striking out a season-high nine batters.

Justin Yurchak recorded his 12th multi-hit performance of the month, increasing his batting average to a league-best .448 in 18 games in June. Yurchak continues a white-hot stretch of seven games, tallying two or more hits in all of those, accomplishing the feat in 11 of his last 12. Yurchak is also second in on-base percentage (.414) and batting average (.312) amongst active members of the HAC. In the month of May, Yurchak was 4-for-42, averaging .095.

Four Loons total finished with two or more hits, as the top five batters finished 7-for-16 in a combined effort, scoring all five earned runs. Ryan Ward increased his league-best batting average to .313 in a 2-for-3 night with a walk, scoring all three times reaching base. Joe Vranesh, batting sixth, provided two hits in four at-bats, scoring once and stealing two bases. The Loons were offensively 0-for-18 with runners in scoring position combined in their last two nights, finishing Friday's game 2-for-9 in the same category.

Game five of this six-game series between Lake County and Great Lakes continues Saturday night, with a start time scheduled for 7:05 P.M. EDT at Dow Diamond. Live pregame coverage can be found on the Loons On-Deck Circle, Built by Three Rivers, beginning at 6:35 P.M. on ESPN 100.9 FM.

Great Lakes lefty Alec Gamboa makes his eighth start of the season on Saturday. In his 12 appearances, Gamboa has recorded 33 strikeouts in 25.0 innings of work, holding a 5.87 earned-run average. Lake County sends the 6'5 right-hander, Kevin Coulter, to the mound for Saturday's contest, just his second start of the year on 10 appearances. In 23 2/3 innings, Coulter has allowed 20 earned runs on 34 hits, walking nine and striking out 25 batters. It's been a .500 season series between Great Lakes and Lake County, with both teams taking five from each other heading into Saturday.

Captains and Loons conclude the current series on Sunday, with kids eating free and can run the bases postgame every Sunday at Dow Diamond with a 1:05 P.M. first pitch, presented by Serra Toyota of Saginaw. A full look at the 2021 Promotional Schedule can be found at Loons.com.

The Great Lakes Loons have been the Single-A partner of the Los Angeles Dodgers since the team's inception in 2007. Dow Diamond serves as the team's home and also houses the Michigan Baseball Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit public charity, and ESPN 100.9-FM. For tickets or information about the Loons, call 989-837-BALL or visit Loons.com.

Check out the Great Lakes Loons Statistics



Midwest League Stories from June 25, 2021


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