Captains beat Loons in rain-shortened contest

Naylor homers, Royalty deals in five-inning game

Alex Royalty earned the win in a rain-shortened game against Great Lakes, allowing one run in five innings. (Tim Phillis - TCP Photography)

June 13, 2019

(Eastlake, OH) - The Lake County Captains (39-27) defeated the Great Lakes Loons (41-23) in a rain-shortened game on Thursday night at Classic Park. In the rubber game of a three-game series, Lake County won in 5.5 innings, 4-2.

Captains starter Alex Royalty cruised through 5.1 innings for a complete game victory. The right-hander allowed just two runs on four hits. Royalty (2-4) struck out four and walked one.
Great Lakes took a 1-0 lead in the third when Luke Heyer led off the inning with a solo homer to left, but the Captains quickly returned the fire. In the bottom of the third, Great Lakes starter Stephen Kolek walked Bo Naylor to lead off the inning and then hit Tyler Freeman with a pitch. With one out, second baseman Jacob Amaya misplayed a Ruben Cardenas ground ball to load the bases. Mitch Reeves then smoked a line drive single into left field that scored both Naylor and Freeman to give the Captains a 2-1 lead.
Naylor gave the Captains insurance in the fourth. Daniel Schneemann began the inning with a single for his second hit of the game. Two batters later, Naylor crushed a two-run homer out to right-centerfield to expand Lake County's lead to 4-1.
The Loons plated a run in the top of the sixth on an RBI single by Niko Hulsizer, but the rain came pouring down right after Hulsizer's knock and the Captains' grounds crew unfurled the tarp.
Kolek (4-4) suffered the loss. The right-hander worked four innings and allowed four runs on six hits. Kolek struck out four, walked three and hit one batter.
The Captains head to Fort Wayne, IN to wrap up the first half with three games against the Fort Wayne TinCaps at Parkview Field. Firs pitch for game one on Friday is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.
Individual game tickets for all Captains games are on sale at the Classic Park box office, online at captainsbaseball.com and by phone at 440-954-WINS (9467). Mini ticket plans for the 2019 season are still available for great prices complete with several exclusive benefits. Information can be found at the Captains website www.captainsbaseball.com.