Captains Win on Paulino's Walk Off Hit

(Eastlake, OH) -After a ninth inning rally forced the Lake County Captains to play their fourth extra innings game in a week, Dorssys Paulino delivered a game winning single in the bottom of the tenth inning to score Claudio Bautista with the winning run as the Captains topped the West Michigan Whitecaps 4-3.

The Captains fell behind in the top of the second inning. Joey Pankake singled to start the inning. He advanced to second on a groundout by Will Kengor. Pankake would come around to score on Shane Zeile's RBI double to leftfield for a 1-0 Whitecaps lead.        

Lake County answered right back in the bottom half of the inning. Bobby Bradley singled to start the inning. Taylor Murphy followed with a single as well. Paulino then singled to score Bradley from second to tie the game at 1.

The Captains took the lead in the bottom of the third inning. With one out Greg Allen singled to extend his hit streak to ten straight games. Claudio Bautista followed with single to move Allen to second. A wild pitch would move Allen to third. Yu-Cheng Chang would then single to score Allen for a 2-0 Captains lead.

The Whitecaps would answer with single runs in both the fifth and sixth innings to take the lead back. In the fifth Zach Shepherd would double and come around to score on a Francisco Mejia passed ball. In the sixth inning Michael Gerber walked to start the inning. With one out Will Kengor doubled to score Gerber. 

In the bottom of the ninth inning Murphy singled to start the inning. He was moved around to third on ground outs by Paulino and Ison. With two outs Mejia singled to score Murphy and tie the game.

Buatista started the bottom of the tenth inning by doubling off the wall in leftfield. Following back to back strikeouts by Chang and Bradley, Murphy was intentionally walked, putting runners at first and second. Paulino then lined the first pitch he saw into centerfield for the walk off 4-3 win.

Anderson Polanco started and went 5.0 innings. He allowed 3 runs, 2 earned, on just 4 hits. He walked 3 and struck out 6. Caleb Hamrick then went 3.0 innings in relief. He allowed 1 hit and struck out 3 while walking 1. Nick Pasquale (1-0) got the win with 1 inning of relief work. He allowed 1 hit and walked 1 while striking out 3.

The Captains welcome the South Bend Cubs to Classic Park for the first time on Friday night. The Captains will send Justus Sheffield (4-1) to the mound. Friday is a Friday Fireworks Night presented by Cell Phone Repair. The Fireworks will be set to a Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin soundtrack to coincide with the annual Italian Heritage Night. The Captains will feature traditional Italian fare for sale, including Cavatelli, Italian Sausage and Connolis. Game time is 6:30 PM.

Also on Friday, professional wrestling legend, Jeff Jarrett, will appear at Classic Park. Jarrett will be in town to promote the upcoming Global Force Wrestling "MILB Grand Slam Tour" scheduled for Saturday, July 11 at Classic Park. Jarrett will throw out a ceremonial first pitch prior to the game and will be available for autographs during the game.