Lingos out-duels Whitecaps

(Comstock Park, MI) - Eli Lingos fired 7.2 scoreless innings on Tuesday to lead the Lake County Captains (29-28, 69-57) to a shutout victory over the West Michigan Whitecaps (21-36, 42-84). The left-hander turned in the longest start of the year by a Captains hurler and Lake County claimed a series split with a 3-0 win at Fifth Third Ballpark.

Lingos and Whitecaps starter Robbie Welhaf were both nearly unhittable. Lingos held the Whitecaps hitless until the fourth, when Parker Meadows hustled out an infield single with two outs. The runner never advanced beyond first, as Lingos struck out Bryant Packard to end the inning and the lefty hurler went on to retire nine straight after the single.
While Lingos was stifling West Michigan, Welhaf was giving the Captains fits. The right-hander was perfect through the first four innings, facing 12 Captains and retiring all of them. In the fifth, however, Lake County's offense momentarily solved Welhaf.
Bo Naylor led off the fifth for the Captains and pulled a grounder past the diving glove of first baseman Zach Malis. Naylor tore around the bases, as the ball rolled to the right field corner, and ended up on third with a leadoff triple. Two batters later, Raynel Delgado slammed a line drive single into left-centerfield to plate Naylor with the game's first run.
Welhaf went back to dominating after the fifth, with one-two-three innings in the sixth and seventh. Out of seven innings pitched, Welhaf spun six perfect frames. Lingos, however, helped the Captains' lone run hold up.
Through seven innings, Lingos had held the Whitecaps scoreless on just two hits, both of which were singles. He came back out for the eighth and got two outs before Brendan Meyer came in to nail down the last out of the frame. Lingos got Danny Reyes to line out to center, walked Cooper Johnson and got Malis to fly out to right. Meyer allowed a first-pitch single to Wenceel Perez, but then struck out Corey Joyce to end eighth inning and keep the Captains ahead, 1-0.
Lake County tacked on two insurance runs in the ninth against reliever Michael Bienlien. Quentin Holmes led off with a single and stole second. After a walk to Clark Scolamiero put men on first and second, Jose Fermin struck out attempting to bunt with two strikes. Holmes and Scolamiero, however, made it to third on a double steal and the Whitecaps opted to intentionally walk Naylor to load the bases. Daniel Schneemann then grounded a two-run single into center that stretched the Captains' lead to 3-0.
Jake Miednik came in to close out the win. The lefty worked around a one-out error by Fermin at second and notched the save when Andre Lipcius flied out to Scolamiero in foul territory down the right field line. It was Miednik's fourth save of the year and second of the series.
Lingos (3-3) earned the win. The lefty pitched 7.2 shutout innings and held West Michigan to two hits. He struck out two and walked two.
Welhaf (4-7) took a hard-luck loss. He pitched seven innings and surrendered one run on two hits. The right-hander struck out three, walked none and hit one batter. He and Bienlien combined for seven perfect innings. Lake County's runs came in the only two innings in which they put men on base.
The Captains split their four-game series with West Michigan and will begin a seven-game homestand on Wednesday. Lake County will play three games against the Bowling Green Hot Rods, followed by four against the Dayton Dragons. Game one of the Bowling Green series is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at Classic Park on Wednesday evening.
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.