MWL1 West Michigan Whitecaps

Swept to end the regular season

Published on September 3, 2007 under Midwest League (MWL1)
West Michigan Whitecaps News Release


LANSING - Even though the Whitecaps posted the best overall record in the Midwest League this year, the regular season ended with a four game losing streak, including a three game sweep at the hands of the Lansing Lugnuts. West Michigan dropped the regular season finale to the Lugnuts, 12-3.

The Lugnuts outscored the Whitecaps 31-18 in the series, including 12-2 in the first inning.

Chris Emanuele led the Lansing offense against a weary Whitecaps bullpen. Emanuele went 3-for-4 with a triple, two double and two RBI.

West Michigan used five relievers on Sunday and each worked more than one inning. Kelvin Cedano had pitched three innings Saturday. When starter Ramon Garcia exhausted his 60-pitch limit on Monday, usual starter Lauren Gagnier came into the game on three days rest. He was followed by Zach Piccola who pitched for the third time in four days and finished the game with 2.1 innings of work.

James Skelton hit his seventh home run of the season for the Whitecaps in the top of the first inning, but Lansing rallied for five in the bottom of the first and never looked back. Skelton finished 2-for-4 with a pair of RBI.

Ray Gonzalez threw the first six innings for the Lugnuts and allowed three (2 ER) runs on three hits.

West Michigan pitchers walked nine batters in the game.

Lansing finished the regular season with a record of 78-61 to establish a new team record for wins a season. The Whitecaps went 83-57 and won 80 games for the sixth time in club history.

Solid Defense: The Whitecaps established a new team record for fielding percentage and fewest errors committed: .975 and 133. It is the fifth season in a row that West Michigan has set or tied their team record in both categories.

Solid Offense: West Michigan posted its second best team batting average in club history at .268. Only the 1997 club did better at .273. The third best average in team history was .254 for both the 2004 and 2006 Midwest League Championship Teams. With a total of 1,268 hits, the 'Caps bested 1997 (1,229) for a new club record.

Drive for Five: West Michigan will face Lansing in the first round of the Midwest League playoffs beginning Wednesday. It is a best-of-three series with the winner to face the victor in the Dayton-South Bend series for the Eastern Division Championship. Below are the expected pitching match ups for the series between the Whitecaps and Lugnuts. Regular season statistics are shown:

(West Michigan vs. Lansing)

Game One, Wednesday at Lansing, 7:05 p.m.:

LHP Duane Below (13-5, 2.97) vs. RHP Julio Pinto (3-4, 1 save, 4.21)

Game Two, Thursday at West Michigan, 7:00 p.m.

RHP Matt O'Brien (7-2, 2.19) vs. RHP Adrian Martin (2-2, 4 saves, 0.83)

Game Three, if necessary, Friday at West Michigan, 7:00 p.m.

LHP Charlie Furbush (4-1, 2.17) vs. RHP Graham Godfrey (6-7, 3.98)

The Davenport University Career Start Up Show begins at 6:50 p.m. Wednesday on 1340 AM WBBL and at wbbl.com.

Check out the West Michigan Whitecaps Statistics

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Midwest League Stories from September 3, 2007


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