Early Production Brings Saturday Win

MIDLAND, MI – The Great Lakes Loons (58-49) benefited from an early seven runs in three innings against the Fort Wayne TinCaps (51-56) to win 8-6 at Dow Diamond Saturday night. Carson Taylor knocked his ninth home run of the season en route to a 3-for-4 night, finishing with two runs driven in.

Dodgers 2021 9th rounder Lael Lockhart (W, 2-0) picked up his second win in his last three appearances, striking out four batters in his two innings of relief. Jeff Belge (S, 5) allowed a leadoff walk and single in the ninth inning before retiring his last three batters faced for the save, two on strikes.

Relieving Aldry Acosta in the seventh, Lockhart surrendered the second triple of the inning to cut the Loons lead to two. Following his first strikeout, Lockhart plunked his first batter of the season and walked a batter to load the bases with two outs. Deacon Liput helped Lockhart out of the inning by relaying a sharply grounded ball to first to strand the bases full.

The Loons scored seven runs on four hits in 3 1/3 innings on Fort Wayne starter Carlos Guarate (L, 1-6) in Saturday’s win.

With the bases loaded in the second inning, Jorbit Vivas wiped the bases clean with his third double with Great Lakes in his tenth game. Along with five runs in the second, a pair of solo home runs in the first and third inning from Ryan Ward (25) and Carson Taylor (8) extended the Loons lead to 7-1 into the fourth.

Fort Wayne’s Euribiel Angeles and Tirso Ornelas reached base nine times in their combined ten trips to the plate in Saturday’s game, led by Ornelas’s perfect 3-for-3 night with a pair of walks. Despite reaching base every time to the plate, Ornelas never crossed home, being stranded in scoring position three times.

Angeles recorded his second-straight three-hit night, finishing 3-for-4 with a walk, slugging his first home run at the High-A level. Just 19 years old, Angeles bucked an 0-for-6 Wednesday night by finishing 6-for-9 in the last two nights combined, tallying 11 total bases and crossing home plate six times.

Along with his solo homer in the first inning, Ward’s at-bat in the second inning was hindered by catcher’s interference, coming in to score on the Vivas three-RBI double. Ward greeted TinCaps reliever Austin Smith with a double in the fourth inning.

Fort Wayne proved to be determined in the latter innings, scoring five runs in the final five innings to chip away at what was a 7-1 Loons lead to just a 7-5 lead into the bottom of the eighth. Eddys Leonard and Carson Taylor knocked back-to-back doubles off new TinCaps pitcher Fred Schlichtholz for a pivotal insurance run in the Saturday win.

The Loons now eye to win their third-consecutive series, holding a three-games-to-two lead over the TinCaps into Sunday’s series finale. Following the conclusion of the series, Great Lakes hits the road for the final time this season for a six-game series against the West Michigan Whitecaps.

Sunday’s game begins with a 1:05 P.M. EDT first pitch, with gates opening an hour earlier and coverage beginning on ESPN 100.9 FM with the Loons On-Deck Circle, Built by Three Rivers at 12:35 P.M.

The Great Lakes Loons have been the Single-A partner of the Los Angeles Dodgers since the team’s inception in 2007. Dow Diamond serves as the team’s home and also houses the Michigan Baseball Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit public charity, and ESPN 100.9-FM. For tickets or information about the Loons, call 989-837-BALL or visit Loons.com.