Largest crowd of season helps propel Captains to sweep of TinCaps

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Lake County Sentinel

Largest crowd of season helps propel Captains to sweep of TinCaps

BY TIM SHIRER

CAPTAINS BEAT WRITER

(EASTLAKE, OH) - The Lake County Captains and Fort Wayne TinCaps finished up their three-game series on Wednesday morning. Things went well for Lake County as they completed the sweep by pounding the TinCaps 10-6 in front of 6,709 enthusiastic fans at Classic Park.

The Captains got on the board quickly in the bottom of the first inning when Quentin Holmes led off with a single. After Tyler Freeman flew out and Will Benson was at the plate Holmes moved to second on his ninth stolen base of the season. Benson followed with a single driving home Holmes with the first run of the game. Benson ended up at third base on the play as TinCaps catcher Blake Hunt threw the ball into center field when he attempted to get Benson trying to take second on the single. The RBI for Benson was his 24th of the season. After Mitch Reeves struck out Ruben Cardenas singled to center field, Benson scored, the RBI was Cardenas’s 20th of the season. Jesse Berardi then singled moving Cardenas to third base for Miguel Jerez who followed with a single driving home Cardenas. The RBI was Jerez’s fifth of year and gave the Captains a 3-0 lead. Angel Lopez lined out to end the inning and any further threat.

The TinCaps responded with a single run in the top of the second inning off Captains starter Cody Morris. Morris a righty was making his third start for Lake County. The run came when Dwanya Williams-Sutton singled to lead off the inning and scored two batters later when Blake Hunt doubled to left field cutting the lead to 3-1.

The Captains struck back extending their lead to four runs in the bottom of the second inning. With one out in the inning Holmes tallied his second hit of the day, this time he doubled. After Tyler Freeman struck out Benson belted his seventh home run of the season and his first since April 18th when he belted four long balls in that game. The home run gave the Captains a 5-1 lead and gave Benson his 25th and 26th RBI of the year putting him third place in the Midwest League.

The TinCaps scored a single run in the fifth inning to close to 5-2, but the Captains struck back in the bottom of the fifth when they added two more runs. The inning began with singles by Freeman and Benson to put men at first and third. Freeman then stole home, his 10th stolen base of the season, Benson stole second and moved to third on a fielding error by TinCaps second baseman Tucupita Marcano. The theft was Benson’s 11th of the year. After Reeves was called out on strikes and Cardenas grounded out to second Berardi singled to right field, Benson scored, and Berardi ended up at second base on a fielding error by TinCaps right fielder Agustin Ruiz. The RBI for Berardi was his 10th of the season and gave Lake County a 7-2 lead.

Fort Wayne attempted to keep it close by scoring another run in the top of the sixth inning off Captains reliever Thomas Ponticelli. The run came off the bat of Justin Lopez, it was his first of the season.

Lake County blew the game open in the bottom of the sixth adding three more runs. The inning consisted of three more Captains hits, including a double by Freeman and another error by Fort Wayne, this time it was charged to first baseman Lee Solomon. The error was the fourth of the game charged to the TinCaps.

Fort Wayne made things interesting in the top of the seventh inning when Ponticelli struggles and gave up three runs. Ponticelli surrendered three hits, including a triple and hit a batter in the inning, but was able to preserve the lead.

Morris picked up the win for Lake County and improves to 2-0 with a 3.71 ERA. He went five innings allowing two runs on four hits, one base on balls and he struck out six. Starter Gabe Mosser took the loss for Fort Wayne. Mosser gave up seven runs, all earned on nine hits. He also struck out seven Captains hitters. With the loss Mosser falls to 2-2 with a 4.54 ERA.

The Captains open a four-game series on Thursday night welcoming the Bowling Green Hot Rods to town. First pitch will be at 6:30 p.m. Caleb Sampen will be on the hill for Bowling Green. Sampen, A Righthander is 2-2 with a 3.82 ERA. Juan Mota will make the start for Lake County. Mota is also a righty and enters the contest with a 1-5 record and 5.82 ERA.