Captains capture comeback win over Dragons

(Eastlake, OH) - The Lake County Captains (11-6) captured a come-from-behind victory over the Dayton Dragons (6-11) on Monday night at Classic Park. After trailing 4-0, Lake County stormed back to grab a 5-4 win in the opener of a three-game series.

Dayton got off to a quick start, but Captains starter Raymond Burgos quickly recovered. On the third pitch of the game, Dragons left fielder Mariel Bautista connected for a leadoff homer. The Captains' lefty settled in after the early mistake, however, and went on to strikeout eight Dragons in just 4.2 innings.
After striking out the side in the third and working a one-two-three fourth, Burgos built on his success with a strikeout to open the fifth. Another Dragons homer, however, broke a string of nine consecutive batters retired when Reniel Ozuna hit a solo homer to give the Dragons a 2-0 lead. The long ball was triggered a fifth-inning rally, as Jonathan Willems followed with a double down the left field line and Bautista singled him home. After a single by Miguel Hernandez and another by Jay Schuyler, interim manager Jordan Smith dug into the bullpen with the Captains down, 3-0. Zach Draper got the call and gave up an RBI single to Pabel Manzanero to make it 4-0, but promptly got Bren Spillane to bounce out to first to end the frame.
The Captains began to mount a comeback in the fifth inning. Jesse Berardi  reached on a two-out double to left-center and was batted in by a single from Captains second baseman Wilbis Santiago to make the score 4-1, Dragons. 
In the sixth inning, back-to-back singles by Bo Naylor and Mitch Reeves pushed in Will Benson , who had reached on a walk to lead off the inning. Benson scored on the RBI knock by Reeves to cut the Captains' deficit to 4-2.
A two-run seventh inning for the Captains tied the game up at 4-4. Santiago reached on an infield single with one out and Benson pulled a single through the shift into right field, sending Santiago to third. After Benson swiped second, Ruben Cardenas banged in both runners with a two-RBI single through the left side to even the score.
After scoring in three consecutive innings to tie the score, the Captains struck again with the go-ahead run in the eighth. Reeves led off the inning with a single against lefty Andy Cox and Berardi bunted the runner to second. After Cox struck out Quentin Holmes for the second out, Santiago flared a single into left field. Reeves chugged around third and beat the throw home to give Lake County the 5-4 lead.
Aaron Pinto closed down the ninth for the Captains and picked up his first save of the year. After retiring the first two hitters, the right-hander worked around some two-out trouble. Ozuna hit a grounder to shortstop and Reeves dropped a low throw from shortstop Tyler Freeman . The missed-catch error kept the game going and Willems singled to put men on first and second, but Pinto got Bautista to pop out to Freeman to end the game.
Jake Miednik picked up his first career win after setting the Dragons down in order in the eighth. Miednik (1-0) retired Dayton on three consecutive fly outs in the eighth inning to keep the game tied and set the table for the eventual game-winning hit by Santiago.
Cox (0-1) took the loss after allowing the winning hit in the eighth. The southpaw pitched 1.1 innings and allowed one run on two hits with one strikeout and no walks.
The Captains took game one of a-three game home series against the Dragons and the teams will play game two on Tuesday. First pitch at Classic Park is scheduled for a 6:30 p.m. start time.
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.