Cantu's blast delivers another walk-off

(Eastlake, OH) - The Lake County Captains (21-27) have had some kind of magic at Classic Park this season. For the fifth time in less than two months, the Captains walked off with a victory. In front of a raucous crowd of 7,098, the Captains climbed back from a 3-0 deficit and Ulysses Cantu blasted a game-winning home run in the bottom of the ninth to lift Lake County to a 4-3 win over the Great Lakes Loons (14-32).
Trailing by three runs in the bottom of the eighth, the Captains' bats woke up against Great Lakes reliever Dan Jagiello. Cantu worked a leadoff walk and Todd Isaacs followed with a liner to right field. Carlos Rincon, who was playing deep, raced in and tried to make a diving catch. The ball bounced under Rincon's glove and rolled past him, allowing Cantu to score and Isaacs to chug to third with an RBI triple. Two batters later, the red-hot Tyler Friis slammed a double off the right-centerfield wall to plate Isaacs and cut the Loons' lead to 3-2. Friis has gone 8-for-16 since the start of last series in Dayton.

Lefty Justin Hoyt came in to get the last out of the eighth and stayed in to pitch the ninth for the Loons. After he struck out Will Benson looking for the first out, Captains Manager Luke Carlin went to his bench. With the left-handed hitting Joshua Rolette due up to hit against a southpaw, Carlin brought in the righty Jonathan Laureano to bat in his place. Laureano came through, driving a double off the right field wall to put the tying run in scoring position.
Cantu came up next and fell behind in the count with two quick strikes. Hoyt's 0-2 pitch was in the dirt and Cantu took it to run the count to 1-2. On the next offering, Cantu turned and pulled a fly ball over the left-field wall for a walk-off homer. It was the Captains' fifth walk-off win out of 12 total home victories. The homer was also the Captains' second walk-off long ball in less than two weeks. Oscar Gonzalez beat the South Bend Cubs on May 14 with a long ball in game one of a doubleheader.
Early in the game, Great Lakes scored quickly against Captains starter Juan Hillman , but the lefty quickly settled in. Hillman walked Brayan Morales to begin the game and Zach McKinstry followed with a two-run homer to right field. Just two batters into the game, the Loons took a 2-0 lead.
After the long ball, Hillman was lights out. The Captains' hurler set down the next three men and proceeded to hold the Loons scoreless over the next three innings, scattering four singles with no walks and two strikeouts.
Great Lakes took advantage of a Captains error to score an insurance run in the fifth. Moises Perez began the frame with a hot-shot grounder to third, but Nolan Jones made a diving stop to his left. The third baseman climbed to his feet and fired to first, but the throw sailed high and into the stands for a two-base error. Hillman got Morales to pop up a bunt back to the mound and then McKinstry flied out to right, prompting Perez to tag up and go to third. With two outs and a runner on third, Hillman got ahead of Romer Cuadrado with two quick strikes, but Cuadrado lined the 0-2 pitch back through the middle for a run-scoring single.
Hillman turned in his longest start of the season, but did not factor in the decision. The lefty pitched seven innings and allowed just three runs, two earned, on seven hits. He struck out four and walked three.
Loons starter Edwin Uceta held the Captains scoreless over five frames. He held Lake County to only two hits, walked three and fanned six.
Riley Echols picked up his first win on the year for Lake County. Echols (1-1) pitched two scoreless frames in the eighth and ninth. He allowed one hit, did not walk a batter and struck out one.
Hoyt (0-1) suffered the blown save and the loss. The Loons' lefty pitched 2/3 of an inning and allowed two runs on two hits. He struck out two and walked one.
The Captains and Loons play game two of their four-game series on Saturday night. First pitch at Classic Park is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
Information about Classic Park or the Captains can be found online at www.captainsbaseball.com and by phone at 440-954-<st1:stockticker w:st="on">WINS (9467). Affordable ticket packages and group party and picnic options are available now.