Four-Run Frame Pushes Loons Past Lugs

LANSING, Mich. – The Great Lakes Loons (11-11) won their third-straight game in Lansing Friday night, defeating the Lansing Lugnuts (10-12) with a 4-2 final. Loons pitchers struck out a season-high 14 batters in a winning effort that required four relievers, following a perfect frame from Clayton Beeter.

Entering Friday’s contest, Great Lakes had scored first in all three previous games in Lansing, and did it again with a four-run third inning on five hits and an error. Following a strikeout to Luke Heyer to begin the inning, GL batters rattled off five consecutive hits, highlighted by an RBI triple from James Outman, his second triple-bagger of the year. Ryan Ward finished with the only multi-hit night for Great Lakes with a pair of base hits. Miguel Vargas continues to pace the rest of the High-A Central in the hits department, knocking his league-best 27th in 22 games.

Offensively, the Loons ended 3-for-10 with runners in scoring position, where in contrast, the Lugnuts finished 3-for-17 in the same statistic. Just from the third inning through the seventh, Lansing left eleven batters stranded, loading the bases twice and only plating two runs on four hits.

Beeter’s scoreless start for Great Lakes was fourth on the season, striking out all three batters faced on 15 pitches, 11 strikes. Austin Drury (W, 2-0) motored through the next three innings with no earned runs on one hit, walking three and sitting two batters down on strikes. Kevin Malisheski was responsible for both Lugnuts runs in the sixth inning, a lesser result having loaded the bases with one out two separate times in the fifth and sixth.

The next 1 1/3 innings belonged to Zack Plunkett, extending his scoreless inning streak to 3 1/3 on Friday. Plunkett struck out four batters and walked three. Cameron Gibbens, from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, made his Great Lakes debut with a seven-out save, his first in a Loons uniform. The Los Angeles Dodgers signed Gibbons as a non-drafted free agent in January, and began the season with Low-A Rancho Cucamonga. In the final 3 2/3 innings of Friday’s game, Plunkett and Gibbens combined for no runs on two hits, walking four and striking out eight.

Receiving the loss for Lansing was righthander Reid Birlingmair, who allowed all four runs in the third on seven hits overall. Birlingmair threw 83 total pitches in 5 /13 innings, 55 of them were strikes. Relievers Michael Danielak, Dalton Sawyer and Jack Weisenberger combined for 3 2/3 innings, holding the Loons to no runs on one hit, striking out seven and walking one.

Great Lakes enters Saturday’s matchup with an opportunity to take the series outright, with Friday’s win ensuring at least a tie. The Loons aim to win their second road series of the season, while Lansing has split every prior series. Saturday’s contest features a pair of righties between GL’s Logan Boyer and Lansing’s Colin Peluse, a ninth-rounder in the 2019 MLB Draft. Boyer makes his second appearance of the series, following a scoreless inning in relief on May 25. Peluse’s previous start came on May 22 in Fort Wayne when he allowed eight runs on ten hits in 3 1/3 innings. First pitch from Jackson Field in Lansing is slated for 7:05 p.m. EDT on ESPN 100.9 FM.

The Great Lakes Loons host the West Michigan Whitecaps in their return to a full-capacity Dow Diamond on June 1. The Loons’ “Re-Opening Night” marks the first game at a full-fledged Dow Diamond since September 2019. Tickets, as well as more information, can be found at Loons.com.

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.