Lake County Defeats South Bend 6-4 in 10 Innings
SOUTH BEND, IN - It was another tough loss for the South Bend Cubs Saturday night as they dropped another to the Lake County Captains 6 to 4 in 10 innings at Four Winds Field. The illusive win to give the Cubs a playoff berth would be just out of reach once again as the Cubs would take a lead in the game only to end up losing it late to the Captains.
The Cubs would score first in the 3rd inning starting with a base hit to left by Jesse Hodges and then a sacrifice bunt from Bryan Flete that moved Hodges to 2nd. A base hit by Carlos Sepulved would move Hodges to 3rd and a line drive sacrifice fly by PJ Higgins to centerfield would score a tagging Hodges. Ian Rice would then come up to the plate and with a 3-1 count hit a rocket deep to left center field for a home run to give the Cubs a 3 run lead. The inning would then end on an Eloy Jimenez pop out to Captains 3rd baseman Valdez.
The Captains would bring it back to a 3-3 game in the top of the 6th inning with a Nathan Lukes single followed by a Willi Castro single that Donnie Dewees misplayed which allowed for Lukes to reach 3rd. A sacrifice fly by Krieger would score Lukes and then a base hit by Francisco Mejia would move Castro to 3rd where a wild pitch for Towmey would score Castro and then a walk would see the end of Twomey's night. John Williamson would come in and get a ground ball on hitter Martin Cervenka but a throwing error from Jesse Hodges would allow for Mejia to score and put Marabell at 3rd and Cervenka at 2nd. Willamson would then get out of the inning by striking out Anthony Miller.
A lead would come for the captains in the 7th with 2 outs as Nathan Lukes would work a walk and then get moved to 3rd on a hit from Willi Castro and then a shot up the middle from Tyler Krieger that hit off of pitcher John Williamson glove scored Lukes to give the Captains a 4-3 lead. Williamson would then come out of the game for Greyfer Eregua who would end the inning by getting Francisco Mejia to ground out to 1st baseman Tyler Alamo.
Donnie Dewees would force extra innings with a leadoff homerun to start off the bottom of the 9th but the Cubs would go down 3 straight after the homerun and force extra innings.
The Captains would get their leadoff man on base in Tyler Krieger to start the top of the 10th and the move him over with a groundball on the infield that would get an out from Francisco Mejia and then a passed ball would move Krieger to 3rd. An intentional walk would but Connor Marabell on 1st and bring up Martin Cervenka who would ground out to Tyler Alamo but would allow the run to score and put a runner at second for Anthony Miller. Miller would then hit a ball up the middle passed a diving infielder to score Marabell and give the Captains a second run before a strikeout ended the inning with the Cubs trailing by 2.
It would come to the top of the order in the bottom of the 10th to try and makeup the 2 run deficit and try to extend the game. A deep fly ball to right that would be caught would start it off the bat of Carlos Sepulveda for the first out. PJ Higgins would then get hit by a pitch to bring the tying run up to the plate in Ian Rice. Rice would hit a fly ball to the warning track in left field but tracking it down for the Captains was left fielder Bobby Ison for the 2nd out brining up Eloy Jimenez who would single to left to put runners on 1st and 2nd with Tyler Alamo up to bat. Alamo would hit a screaming liner but right at shortstop Castro to end the game.
The Cubs still control their own playoff destiny, a win Sunday and the Cubs are in but a loss will force them out for the first half and they will have to look to the second half to try and earn a playoff spot. In the end it's the players who get to decide their own fate and there's no doubt they wouldn't have it any other way.