Errors, homers cost Captains in loss to Beloit

(Eastlake, OH) – The Lake County Captains (64-54) failed to stretch their winning streak to a season best five straight on Friday night. Three Captains errors and three homers by the Beloit Snappers (54-64) handed Lake County an 8-3 loss at Classic Park.

The Snappers struck first with two outs in the top of the second. Dustin Skelton came to the plate and launched a solo home run to left field that put Beloit on top, 1-0.

Beloit extended its lead in the third inning with three unearned runs. JD Orr reached on an error by first baseman Joe Naranjo. He took off for second base on the next pitch and advanced when Victor Victor Mesa hit a ground ball to shortstop for the second out. With Orr on second base and two outs, Connor Scott hit a line drive to right field. Johnathan Rodríguez tried to pick the ball up on one bounce, but the ball ticked off of his glove for the second Lake County error of the inning. Orr scored on the play and Scott reached second base. Still with two outs, Bennett Hostetler drilled an opposite field two-run home run to push Beloit’s lead to 4-0.

Lake County jumped on the scoreboard in the bottom of the third. Christian Cairo started a rally with a one-out single up the middle. José Tena pulled a ground ball through the right side of the infield that moved Cairo to third base. With runners on the corners and one out, Micah Pries jumped on the first pitch of his at bat and doubled to left-center. Cairo scored for the first Captains run of the game and Tena was stopped at third. With runners on second and third, Rodríguez collected another first-pitch hit by singling to left field. That plated both Tena and Pries to cut the Beloit lead to 4-3.

The Snappers put up four more runs in the top of the fifth on just one hit. Ricky Aracena and Orr began the frame with back-to-back walks. A double steal moved the runners to second and third before an error by second baseman Raynel Delgado scored both runners. Scott then hit a two-run homer to right that gave Beloit an 8-3 lead.

Bryan Hoeing (7-6) tossed seven innings to earn the win for Beloit. He allowed three runs over seven innings, but did not allow a hit after the three-run third. Hoeing allowed six hits, walked one and struck out five.

Hunter Gaddis (4-11) took the loss for Lake County. He worked five innings on the mound, allowing eight runs but just three were earned. Gaddis walked two, surrendered five hits and struck out nine.

Daniel Espino is scheduled to start game five of the six game series for Lake County on Saturday. First pitch at Classic Park is scheduled for 6:35 p.m.

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.