Loons Early Lead Too Much For Captains

(Midland, MI) -The Lake County Captains saw an early lead disappear after a three run second inning put the Great Lake Loons on top for good in the game. The Captains would battle back to cut the deficit to just a run, but in the end could not rally past the Loons and fell 4-2.

In the top of the second inning Taylor Murphy drew a one out walk. He would move to third on a Yu-Cheng Chang infield single. With two outs Murphy would score the first run of the game on an RBI single from Francisco Mejia for a 1-0 Captains lead.

The Loons would get to Captains starter Justus Sheffield in the bottom of the second inning. Federico Celli started the inning by drawing a walk. Justin Chigbogu would follow with a base hit to rightfield to put runners and first and third. Webster Rivas, in his first at bat of the season for the Loons, connected on a three run homerun to leftfield for a 3-1 lead.

Lake County would cut the deficit to a single run in the top of the sixth inning. With two outs, Bobby Bradley extended the inning by drawing a walk. Murphy would then single, his second of three on the night, to move Bradley to third. A wild pitch from Loons' relieve Matt Campbell would allow Bradley to score to cut the deficit to 3-2. Murphy advanced to second on the wild pitch but was stranded there when Chang struck out.

Great Lakes added an insurance run in the bottom of the seventh inning. Kyle Garlick doubled with one out. A groundout by Matt Beaty moved him to third with two outs. Celli would then follow with an RBI single for a 4-2 Loons lead.

In the top of the ninth inning Murphy would single to start the inning allowing the tying run to come to the plate. However, a double play and a fly out would end the game.

Sheffield (7-4) took the loss in just 2.2 innings pitched. He allowed 3 earned runs on 6 hits. He walked 2 and struck out 2. Justin Garcia then went 1.1 innings pitched. He allowed 1 hit and did not record a walk or strike out. Julian Merryweather would then go the final 4.0 innings in relief. He allowed 1 earned run on 5 this. He struck out 1. 

The Captains can still win the series on Sunday afternoon. The team will play their final game at DOW Diamond this season at 2:05pm with Anderson Polanco on the mound. You can hear all the action on 970AM WFUN.

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). Mini ticket plans for the 2015 season are on sale now at great prices complete with several exclusive benefits.