Nunez, Rickles Steer Snappers Past Captains

BELOIT, WI - Renato Nunez blooped a walk-off RBI single into right-center as the Beloit Snappers took down the Lake County Captains by a score of 7-6 in Midwest League action on Friday night with 2,114 in attendance at Pohlman Field.

Beloit completes a three-game sweep as they find themselves at 58-33 (15-6 in the second half). Lake County loses another heartbreaker to stumble to 35-53 (12-9 in the second half).

Brett Vertigan began the ninth against D.J. Brown (1-2) and he grounded a ball into left field that he hustled into a double. Two batters later, it was Nunez (3-5, 2 RBIs, run), who's flair into short right-center allowed Vertigan to motor home with the winning run. David Mota (1-0) got his first win as a Snapper by throwing a pair of scoreless innings.                                                                                                           

The Captains offense quickly got untracked against starting pitcher Vince Voiro. A lead-off Todd Hankins single was followed by an RBI double by Yhoxian Medina (2-4, 2 RBI, run) for a 1-0 lead. Three batters later, Erik Gonzalez singled to score Medina and Lake County was quickly in the driver's seat.

After a Nunez RBI single in the bottom of the first, the Captains restored their three-run lead when Jorge Martinez singled in Jeremy Lucas. That lead went to four runs in the fourth thanks to another RBI knock by Medina.

In the bottom of the fourth, Beloit's offense went to work erasing the deficit. A pair of singles brought up Nick Rickles (3-4, HR, 4 RBI, run) with one out and he sent a rocket over the left field wall for three runs, his fifth homer of the year. One inning later, an RBI groundout by Christopher Bostick plated Aaron Shipman, tying the score.

Lake County proved resilient and re-took the lead in the seventh. Hankins drew a walk, was sacrificed to second, stole third and scored on Joe Sever sacrifice fly. Not to be outdone, the Snappers battled back in the eighth, evening the score again, as Ryan Mathews doubled and Rickles picked up his fourth RBI of the game with a single. That tie was shattered in the bottom of the ninth.

Up next for Beloit is another three-game series, this one against the Fort Wayne TinCaps. The pitching match-up is scheduled to be RHP Deyvi Jimenez (1-0, 2.70 ERA) for the Snappers and RHP Bryan Rodriguez for the TinCaps (1-3, 3.13 ERA). The ballpark will be a giant bundle of energy on this night, thanks to the Zooperstars. This world famous act is making Beloit the latest stop on its list of ballparks. The cast of many, including Tim Tebull, Mackerel Jordan, Monkey Mantle and Harry Canary will keep the park lively all evening long.