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MWL1 Lake County Captains

Stranded Runners Burn Captains

May 4, 2018 - Midwest League (MWL1)
Lake County Captains News Release


(Eastlake, OH) - A series of missed opportunities sunk the Lake County Captains (12-14) on Friday night. The Captains stranded runners in scoring position in six separate innings and lost to the Beloit Snappers (10-12), 5-3.

Captains starter Juan Hillman faltered in the first inning, but bounced back and turned in a strong performance. In the first, Beloit took a 2-0 lead just four batters into the ballgame. Anthony Churlin walked and Trace Loehr doubled to put runners on second and third. Austin Beck then hit a sacrifice fly to left that scored Churlin and Logan Farrar singled home Loehr.

Hillman settled down after the first and did not give up another run over the next three innings. From the second through the fourth, the lefty scattered two hits and faced just one batter above the minimum. Meanwhile, the Captains' offense answered with a run in the third inning to pull within one.

Facing lefty Jared Poche, Todd Isaacs started the rally with a leadoff bunt single. The speedy centerfielder dropped a bunt into the grass on the third base side and beat the throw from third baseman Jake Lumley. Poche retired the next two batters on ground outs, but Isaacs advanced to third and scored on an RBI single to center by Jorma Rodriguez to trim Beloit's lead to 2-1.

Hillman ran into trouble again in the fifth inning and the Snappers pounced for a pair of unearned runs in an inning centered around hot shots at Captains first baseman Jose Vicente. Jack Meggs led off by hitting a screaming line drive that Vicente snagged. Lumley came up next, however, and hit a hard grounder that ate up Vicente and bounced off his glove for an error. Churlin followed with his first of two triples, bringing home Meggs to give Beloit a 3-1 lead.

The Captains pulled the infield in with one out and Loehr slammed a ground ball to first base. Vicente blocked the ball with his chest and recorded the out at first, holding Churlin on third base. Beck then hit a soft fly to right that Will Benson dove after, but could not catch. Beck's single scored Churlin to give the Snappers a 4-1 lead.

Lake County had a chance to even the score in the bottom of the fifth, but came up empty. After back-to-back walks to Ernie Clement and Nolan Jones put runners on first and second, Beloit catcher Skyler Weber tried to pick off Jones at first with a snap throw. Weber's throw sailed into right field and the Captains had runners on second and third with nobody out. Poche, however, struck out Rodriguez swinging and then got Benson swinging for the second out. Jesus Zambrano came in from the bullpen and struck out Oscar Gonzalez to end the inning.

The Captains scratched two runs across in the sixth to pull within one run. With one out, Jonathan Laureano worked his third walk of the game and Jose Vicente followed with a double to put men on second and third. Isaacs then grounded out to deep short to score Laureano and cut the Captains' deficit to 4-2. Clement came up next and hit a soft grounder up the middle that he legged out for an infield single and Jones followed by rolling a single into center that brought home Vicente to trim Beloit's lead to 4-3. The sixth-inning rally continued when Rodriguez hit an infield single to load the bases, but Zambrano got Benson to ground out to first and end the inning.

Beloit added an insurance run in the seventh inning thanks to Churlin's second triple of the game. Churlin tripled to right-centerfield with one out against the right-hander Nick Gallagher, who was in his first inning relieving Hillman. Gallagher almost escaped. He struck out Loehr for the second out and had two strikes on Beck, but the righty uncorked a wild pitch that brought Churlin home to give the Snappers a 5-3 lead.

Zambrano (3-1) took home the win for the Snappers. The right-handed reliever pitched 2.1 innings and allowed two runs on four hits. He walked one and struck out three. Nick Highberger picked up his first save, pitching two shutout innings and allowing two hits with no walks and one strikeout.

Hillman (0-4) took the loss despite a strong start. For the third start in a row, Hillman pitched five or more innings and allowed three or fewer earned runs. The lefty pitched six frames on Friday, allowing four runs, but only two earned. He gave up six hits, walked two and struck out one.

The Snappers ended a five-game losing streak by beating Lake County in the series opener. The Captains face Beloit again on Saturday night. First pitch at Classic Park is scheduled for 6:30 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.

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