Lake County Sentinel
Captains extend win streak to three games with 4-3 comeback win over Whitecaps
BY TIM SHIRER
CAPTAINS BEAT WRITER
Thursday night the Lake County Captains returned home on a two-game winning streak to face the visiting West Michigan Whitecaps. The Captains continued their good play with a comeback win 4-3 to extend their win streak to three games.
West Michigan took the early lead against Captains starter Juan Hillman, tallying a single run in the first inning and two runs in the third. From that point on Hillman held the Whitecaps in check. Hillman got stronger as the game went on as his velocity was still at 90+ in his final inning of work in the fifth.
The Captains began their comeback in the fourth inning when Mitch Longo singled with two outs. Longo advanced to third when the next batter Todd Isaacs doubled to right field. With Miguel Eladio at the plate West Michigan starter Anthony Castro uncorked a wild pitch and Longo scored the Captains first run, cutting the lead to 3-1.
Lake County cut into the lead further in the seventh inning when Isaacs singled with one out and moved to third on a single by Eladio, putting men on first and second for Jorma Rodriguez who hits into a force play and Eladio was out at second and Isaacs moved to third, putting men at the corners for Trenton Brooks. Brooks then singled to right field and Isaac came home with the Captains second run, cutting the lead to 3-2.
The Captains came all the way back to take the lead in the eighth inning with two runs. The big blow in the inning came off the bat of Emmanuel Tapia. Logan Ice singled to lead off the inning and then Tapia deposited a Locke St. John pitch over the center field fence to give Lake County a 4-3 lead which ended up being the final score. The home run for Tapia is his eighth home run of the season. Tapia’s eight long balls are tied for the most in the Midwest League with Carlos Rincon of the Great Lake Loons.
Tanner Tully picked up the win in relief for Lake County. Tully pitched for scoreless innings in relief allowing only one hit, striking out three and issuing one base on balls. With the win, Tully improves to 2-2 with a 1.60 ERA. St. John took the loss in relief for the Whitecaps. With the loss, St. John falls to 1-2 with a 3.50 ERA.
The Captains and Whitecaps will play game two of their four game series on Friday night at 6:30 p.m. Austin Sodders will be on the mound for the Whitecaps. Sodders, a lefty is who is 4-0 with an 0.87. Righty Micah Miniard will take the hill for the Captains. Miniard is 1-3 with a 5.59.
tshirer@lakecountysentinel.com or follow Tim on Twitter @IndiansTim Check out our IndiansNation fan Page
POSTED 05/18/2017 22:29
Lake County Captains third baseman Jorma Rodriguez.
Photo by Greg Goth
