Captains Top Loons to Keep Playoff Hopes Alive

(Midland, MI) -The Lake County Captains fell behind early on Thursday night, but came storming back to score eight unanswered runs on the way to an 8-2 win over the Great Lakes Loons. Justus Sheffield led the way with six strong innings and did not allow a walk while earning his sixth win of the season. The Win keeps the Captains alive in the wild card chase heading into the final three games of the first half.

The Captains would fall behind in the bottom of the second inning. With one out Julian Leon singled. Jacob Scavuzzo followed with a two run homerun to leftfield to put the Loons up 2-0.

In the top of the third inning the Captains would cut the deficit in half. Yonathan Mendoza started the inning by drawing a walk. He would then steal second. A Greg Allen ground out would move him to third. Mendoza would then score on an RBI groundout from Steven Patterson to cut the score to 2-1.

The Captains took the lead for good in the fourth inning. Bobby Bradley singled to start the inning. A wild pitch moved him to second. With one out Bradley would move to third on groundout by Martin Cervenka. David Armendariz would then walk with two outs. Armendariz and Bradley would then pull off a double steal of second and third to score Bradley with the tying run. Armendariz would then score the go ahead run on a double by Grant Fink. Fink followed him to the plate by scoring on a Mendoza single. By the end of the inning the Captains led 4-2.

The game would be put out of reach in the top of the seventh inning. The Captains would send eight men to the plate on the way to a four run inning. Claudio Bautista, Bradley and Cervenka would all drive in runs to put the Captains ahead 8-2.

Sheffield (6-1) earned the win by going 6.0 innings. He allowed 2 runs, both earned, on 7 hits. He did not walk a batter and struck out 7. Luke Eubank would then go 1.0 inning in relief. He did not allow a run or a hit. He struck out 1 without allowing a walk. Caleb Hamrick would go 1.0 inning as well. He allowed 2 hits but no runs. He struck out 2. Justin Garcia went the final 1.0 inning. He allowed 1 hit.

With the win, the Captains remain two games out of the wild card with three games left in the first half. The team now heads to Dayton to start a three game series with the Dragons on Friday night at 7:00pm. Jordan Milbrath (2-6) will get the start. Catch all the action on 1330AM WINT.

Individual game tickets are on sale now at the Classic Park Box Office, Online at CaptainsBaseball.com and by phone at 440-954-WINS (9467). Full season tickets plans, 12-, 20-, and 35-game mini ticket plans for the 2015 season are on sale now at great prices complete with several exclusive benefits.