Captains roar back, cling on in Lansing
(Lansing, MI) – A seventh-inning rally propelled the Lake County Captains (2-1) to a come-from-behind win over the Lansing Lugnuts (1-2) on Thursday night at Jackson Field. The Captains scored four runs in the seventh and escaped a treacherous ninth inning to defeat the Lugnuts, 7-6. The game set a
(Lansing, MI) – A seventh-inning rally propelled the Lake County Captains (2-1) to a come-from-behind win over the Lansing Lugnuts (1-2) on Thursday night at Jackson Field. The Captains scored four runs in the seventh and escaped a treacherous ninth inning to defeat the Lugnuts, 7-6. The game set a Captains record for the longest nine-inning game in team history with a final time of four hours and 18 minutes.
Lansing jumped out in front immediately off of Captains starter Nathan Ocker. After Ocker hit Michael Guldberg to open the game, Jake Suddleson hit a fly ball to centerfield that Quentin Holmes dropped to put men on second and third. A wild pitch by Ocker then plated Guldberg for the first run of the game. Two RBI doubles from Jordan Diaz and William Simoneit followed to give Lansing a 3-0 first-inning lead.
Simoneit struck again in the bottom of the third to increase Lansing’s lead to 4-0. After Patrick McColl walked and stole second, Simoneit ripped a fly ball to right for his second RBI double of the game.
The Captains cut Lansing’s lead in half in the fifth inning. George Valera singled with one out to start the rally. Jonathan Engelmann followed and hit a ground ball to third that Diaz mishandled. Raynel Delgado came up next and hit a ground ball single that snuck into right field. Valera scored to put the Captains on the board. Michael Danielak then came in from the bullpen to relieve Bryce Nightengale and Jose Tena greeted the new right-hander with an RBI double over the head of left fielder Shane Selman. Engelmann scored to trim the Lugnuts’ lead to 4-2.
Lansing got one run back in the fifth inning against left-handed reliever Tim Herrin. After McColl doubled to begin the frame, Herrin walked Max Schuemann with one out and walked Shane Selman with two outs to load the bases. Herrin then walked Elvis Peralta, Jr. to force home McColl and extend Lansing’s lead to 5-2. Herrin escaped further trouble when Michael Guldberg grounded out to Delgado at first base to end the inning.
Lake County stormed back to take the lead in the seventh with four runs. After a one-out walk to Delgado, the Captains got three consecutive singles from Tena, Mike Amditis, and Victor Nova. Tena’s infield single scored Delgado and Nova’s flare single down the left field line plated Tena to trim Lansing’s lead to 5-4. An RBI groundout to second base by Austen Wade evened the score at 5-5, as Amditis scored from third. Brayan Rocchio then gave the Captains the lead. With two outs, Rocchio delivered an RBI single past second baseman Peralta to plate Nova and give the Captains a 6-5 lead.
The Captains tacked on an insurance run in the eighth inning. Bryan Lavastida reached on an infield single to third base, stole second and advanced to third on a passed ball. Lavastida came home on an Engelmann groundout to give Lake County a 7-5 advantage.
Lansing answered with a tally in the bottom of the eighth. Two singles from Michael Guldberg and Jake Suddleson started the inning and Guldberg stole third to put runners on the corners. The Captains, however, turned a timely 6-4-3 double play on a slow ground ball from Diaz. Tena charged and flipped to Nova at second, who fired to Delgado at first for the twin killing. Guldberg came home to score and cut the Captains’ lead to 7-6.
The Lugnuts threatened again in the bottom of the ninth. Schuemann singled with one out against Jared Janczak and then stole second base. Janczak got Jared McDonald to fly out to right for the second out, which brought up Shane Selman as Lansing’s last chance. With Selman at the plate and two outs, Janczak balked Schuemann to third. The Lugnuts had the tying run 90 feet away and Selman lifted a 1-1 pitch from Janczak deep to right-centerfield. Engelmann chased the ball down in the gap and the right fielder secured the ball with a basket catch to win the ballgame.
Jared Janczak (1-0) registered the win for the Captains. He pitched the final 3.2 innings out of the bullpen and allowed just one earned run. Janczak struck out one, walked one and surrendered four hits.
Lansing reliever Charlie Cerny (0-1) took the loss. He allowed five runs, four earned, over 1.1 innings with one walk and one strikeout.
The Captains have won two in a row, and two of the first three games in their six-game series at Lansing. Game four is scheduled for Friday night. First pitch is set for 7:05 from Jackson Field. Tanner Burns is the probable starter for the Captains and Reid Birlingmair is expected to start for the Lugnuts.
About the Captains
The Lake County Captains are the High-A affiliate of the Cleveland Indians. For more information, visit the Captains’ website at www.CaptainsBaseball.com, Facebook page at www.Facebook.com/CaptainsBaseball, Twitter @LCCaptains and Instagram @LCCaptains. Fans can also get the latest Captains news and offers by signing up for the Captains’ newsletter, The Anchor.