Captains prevail in pitchers duel with walk off by Naylor

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Captains prevail in pitchers duel with walk off by Naylor

BY TIM SHIRER

CAPTAINS BEAT WRITER

(EASTLAKE, OH) - The Lake County Captains and Peoria Chiefs finished up their three-game series on Monday night at Classic Park. The two clubs had split the first two games. Game three was a pitcher’s duel in the purest form as the Captains used a ninth inning rally to steal the victory 2-1 and send the 3,273 fans in attendance home happy.

The Chiefs got on the board first in the second inning when Leandro Cedeno doubled to lead off the inning and then scored two hitters later a sacrifice fly by Brandon Benson putting the Chiefs ahead 1-0.

The two starting pitchers the Captains Lefty Matt “Shaggy” Turner and Peoria’s Kyle Leahy put on a pitching clinic. Turner, who bears a striking resemblance to Shaggy from the Scooby Doo cartoon series has embraced the nickname. When asked about being nicknamed from a cartoon character and if he liked it, he laughed and stated, “I’ve forgotten my real name”. He said he even has Shaggy written on his glove. Tonight’s start was his first start for Lake County, and he went five and two thirds innings scattering six hits, allowing just the one run and issuing one base on balls while striking out four Chiefs. Leahy went six scoreless innings allowing only four hits, one base on balls and struck out six Captains. As is the case a lot of times in baseball as neither starting pitcher figured in the decision.

The game remained 1-0 until the ninth inning when the Captains who had threated to score a couple other times in the game finally came through. The inning began when Peoria reliever Evan Sisk came into the game in relief. Miguel Jerez, who was pinch hitting for Josh Rolette started the inning by drawing a base on balls. Cody Farhat was then hit by a Sisk pitch to put men on first and second. Connor Smith then reached safely on a bunt single loading the bases. Quentin Holmes then struck out for the first out of the inning, but Bo Naylor then came to the plate and smashed a line drive single between the third baseman and shortstop scoring Jerez and then Farhat with the winning run. The hit was Naylor’s third of the night in five at bats.

Captains reliever Kyle Marman who came on in relief in the top of the ninth inning picked up the win for Lake County. He pitched one scoreless inning allowing one hit. With the win he improves to 2-2 with a 3.33 ERA. Sisk took the loss for the Chiefs and falls to 1-6 with a 3.43 ERA.

The walk off win was Lake County’s fourth of the season. With the win their record for the season improves to 57-42 and their second half record stands at 17-13. Peoria falls to 6-24 in the second half and 36-63 overall.

The Captains after an off day on Tuesday will head to South Bend, Indiana for a three-game series against the Cubs and then will travel to Bowling Green for three more to complete the trip. The first game in South Bend will commence at 7:05 p.m. The Cubs have not yet named a starting pitcher for the game. The Captains will send Eli Lingos to the mound. Lingos is 2-0 with a 2.96 ERA.