Captains Skip Past Dragons 7-3

(Eastlake, OH) - The Lake County Captains (4-7) defeated the Dayton Dragons (3-9) by a final of 7-3 on Wednesday Night. Lake County added insurance runs in the eighth inning. After the first two batters of the inning were walked, Aaron Siliga had an RBI single and then Eric Haase hit a two out base hit that plated two more. Haase had three RBI's on the night.

The Captains scored first in the ballgame. In the bottom half of the first inning, Luigi Rodriguez doubled to lead off the game. The two-bagger was Luigi's first extra base hit of the season. Erik Gonzalez walked and moved to third on a wild pitch. A second wild pitch scored Rodriguez and Gonzalez motored all the way home from second to score and the score was 2-0 Captains.

In the second inning, Jeff Gelalich singled to begin the inning. Two batters later Gelalich scored on a single by Robert Ramirez. The score stood at 2-1 Lake County. The Captains made it 4-1 in the fourth inning.  Erik Gonzalez reached on a fielder's choice and later scored on a wild pitch. Eric Haase followed with a RBI single that made the score 4-1.

Dayton drew closer as in the seventh inning, Junior Arias doubled and then stole third base. He scored on a single by Brent Peterson and it was 4-2. In the eighth it became a one run game when Dayton used a lead off single and a double by Jesse Winker to make the score 4-3.

Ryan Merritt (1-2) started for the Captains and earned the win. Merritt pitched six innings, allowing five hits, one earned run and four strikeouts. Jack Wagoner pitched the seventh and allowed two hits and one earned run. Wagoner recorded one walk and one strikeout. Nick Pasquale pitched the eighth inning for Lake County and allowed two hits and one earned run. Louis Head finished off the ballgame by pitching a scoreless ninth inning, and the final score was 7-3 Captains.

Ismael Guillon (0-2) started for Dayton and took the loss. Guillon pitched three and one third innings and allowed four earned runs on just one hit. Guillon walked nine and struck out five. Joel Bender took over in the fourth and pitched three and two thirds innings of shutout baseball in relief. Mo Wiley pitched one third of an inning and was charged with three earned runs. Sean Lucas finished off the eighth inning for Dayton. The Dragons staff walked twelve hitters and tossed six wild pitches.

The Captains and Dragons will play game three of a three game set on Thursday Night. The Captains are yet to announce a starting pitcher for the game. RHP Drew Cisco (1-0, 1.36) will start the game for the Dragons. First pitch is at 6:30 PM at Classic Park.

The Lake County Captains are a Class A affiliate of the Cleveland Indians and play their home games at Classic Park in Eastlake, at the corners of State Route 91 and Vine Street.  For more information on the Captains, please visit the team's official website at www.CaptainsBaseball.com.