South Bend sweeps doubleheader from Sky Carp

SOUTH BEND, IN – The South Bend Cubs handed the Sky Carp a doubleheader sweep with back-to-back one-run losses on Friday night at Four Winds Field: 3-2 in game one and 4-3 in game two.

After beating the Cubs on Tuesday to pull into a tie atop the Midwest League West second half standings, Beloit now trails South Bend by three games following three straight losses.

In game one, Beloit jumped on South Bend starter Luis Devers for a first inning run, as Dalvy Rosario cracked the first pitch he saw for a solo homer to left center field.

Sky Carp hurler Evan Fitterer took that lead and ran with it and kept the Cubs off the scoreboard until the fourth inning.

In the fourth, Luis Verdugo doubled with one out and then moved to third on a Bennett Hostetler passed ball. With two outs, Pablo Aliendo singled to bring in Verdugo to tie the game at one.

The knock was the only damage that Fitterer allowed in six strong innings. The righty finished with a final line of five hits, one unearned run, two walks and three strikeouts.

Tyler Eckberg came out of Beloit’s bullpen and got the game to extras with a scoreless bottom of the seventh.

In the eighth, Kyler Castillo delivered an RBI single to score Zach Zubia, the automatic runner, from second base. Federico Polanco then drew a walk, and Tevin Mitchell bunted both runners over to give the Sky Carp two runners in scoring position with one out.

However, Beloit failed to capitalize, as Cody Morissette popped out and Rosario struck out.

The wasted opportunity came back to bite Beloit in the bottom of the eighth, as Pete Crow-Armstrong singled on the first pitch of the frame from Eckberg to tie the game at two.

Eckberg retired the next two batters, but then things unraveled for Beloit.

With Yohendrick Pinango at the plate, Crow-Armstrong dashed for second and got a late break. The throw from Hostetler beat him to the bag, but the slide kicked the ball out of Rosario’s glove, resulting in a stolen base.

On the next pitch, Pinango sent a bouncer up the middle that appeared to be a routine play for Rosario. Beloit’s shortstop fielded it cleanly but delivered a short throw to first that Zach Zubia couldn’t pick, and Crow-Armstrong scored from second to end the game.

In game two, it was South Bend that struck first, as the Cubs scored took the lead on a 2-RBI single by Pinango in the top of the third against Beloit starter Jake Walters.

South Bend starter Kohl Franklin mowed through the Sky Carp order in five scoreless innings, setting a new career high with nine strikeouts. Beloit threatened against the righty in his final inning of work, but Zubia was thrown out at the plate trying to score on a Morissette single.

The Cubs lead swelled to 4-0 with a 2-RBI double from Jonathan Sierra in the bottom of the sixth inning. As it turned out, they needed the insurance.

In the top of the seventh, Zubia and Castillo singled with one out to bring Polanco to the plate with two on. Polanco brought everybody home with a line-drive, opposite field homer to trim the lead down to 4-3.

Cubs’ lefty Dalton Stambaugh bounced back, though, and struck out Mitchell and Morissette to end the game.

The series continues tomorrow night at 7:05 ET, as Dax Fulton takes the mound for Beloit. Fans can tune into the action for free using the Big Radio App.