(Comstock Park, MI) - The Lake County Captains (19-24) suffered their second sweep of the 2018 season after losing the final game in a three game series against the West Michigan Whitecaps (23-19) on Sunday. Lake County battled back from a 7-0 deficit in the series finale at Fifth Third
(Comstock Park, MI) - The Lake County Captains (19-24) suffered their second sweep of the 2018 season after losing the final game in a three game series against the West Michigan Whitecaps (23-19) on Sunday. Lake County battled back from a 7-0 deficit in the series finale at Fifth Third Ballpark, but ultimately fell, 7-4.
The Whitecaps opened the scoring in the first inning against Captains starter Juan Hillman . Alexis Garcia hit a one-out double and then caught the Captains on their heels. Garcia took off for third base before Hillman started his delivery. Hillman stepped off the rubber and threw to third, but Garcia slid in ahead of the tag by Nolan Jones . Lake County brought the infield in with one out and Luke Burch hit a hard grounder to the right side. Tyler Friis made a diving stop, but his only play was to first. As Friis tossed to first for the out, Garcia scored to give West Michigan a 1-0 lead. The run represented the fifth straight start in which Hillman has surrendered a first-inning tally.
Hillman held the Whitecaps scoreless over the next two frames, but the fourth inning brought trouble in more ways than one. Burch led off the inning by blooping a ball into shallow left-centerfield. Austen Wade raced in from centerfield and Ernie Clement hustled back from shortstop. Both dove after the ball and collided on the play, with Clement's left leg hitting Wade's lower back. Wade and Clement both left the game due to injury. Miguel Eladio replaced Clement at shortstop, while Oscar Gonzalez came in to play left and replace Wade in the lineup. Todd Isaacs shifted from left to center.
The fourth inning continued after the collision and West Michigan kept its rally going with a soft single by Colby Bortles. With two on and one out, Reynaldo Rivera launched a fly ball over the right field wall and off the roof of the picnic deck to give the Whitecaps a 4-0 lead.
The Whitecaps homered again and scored three more runs the following inning. Cole Peterson led off with a single, moved to third on a balk by Hillman and advanced to third on a fly ball to right field by Garcia. Burch then knocked in Peterson with a sacrifice fly to left. Hillman followed with a walk to Dylan Rosa and Bortles slammed a two-run homer to left field, giving the Whitecaps a 7-0 lead.
Lake County fought back in the seventh. Whitecaps righty reliever Brandyn Sittinger walked Ulysses Cantu and Joshua Rolette with one out to start the rally. Isaacs came up next and roped a double into the left field corner to plate Cantu with the Captains' first run. Friis followed Isaacs by doubling to right field and bringing home both Rolette and Isaacs. Right-hander Oswaldo Castillo came in from the Whitecaps' bullpen to face Gonzalez, but Gonzalez singled to put runners on the corners and Castillo balked home Friis to cut West Michigan's lead to 7-4. The balk was the fourth of the ballgame. West Michigan was guilty of one and the Captains were called for three.
The Captains brought the tying run to the plate twice in the eighth, but could not score. Castillo pitched around two singles and a walk in the eighth before lefty Felix Viloria set down the Captains in order in the ninth to earn his first save.
Whitecaps starter Dane Myers earned the win. Myers (1-0) pitched five shutout innings in his first start since coming off the disabled list. He allowed two hits, walked one batter, hit one batter and struck out four.
Hillman (0-7) suffered the loss, allowing seven runs over 4.2 innings. The southpaw gave up nine hits, struck out six and walked one.
The Captains will try to regroup from the sweep, as they travel to Dayton, OH for a four-game series with the Dayton Dragons. Game one at Fifth Third Field is scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m. on Monday evening.
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.
