Judkins, Schofield-Sam serve up series win

DAYTON, OH – Grant Judkins delivered seven commanding innings, T.J. Schofield-Sam cracked three extra-base hits, and the Lansing Lugnuts (32-24) clinched a road series victory with a 3-1 win over the Dayton Dragons (18-38) on Saturday night at Day Air Ballpark.

The Lugnuts have won four of five games in the six-game series, with their only defeat coming in a rainy 3-2 10th-inning walk-off on Thursday.

Judkins fanned six Dragons while allowing just four hits and one run – a second-inning Ariel Almonte solo home run – over seven unstressed frames spanning 96 pitches. It was his third quality start, one in each month of the season.

Meanwhile, Schofield-Sam turned in his latest impactful performance: a first-inning double, a third-inning triple (which was followed by consecutive RBI doubles from Jared Dickey and Nate Nankil for a 2-1 Nuts lead), and a fifth-inning RBI double to close out the scoring. Schofield-Sam finished 3-for-4, increasing his Midwest League-leading batting average to .356.

Dickey added two doubles in four at-bats for the Lugnuts, who have 109 doubles for the season, tied for the most in the Midwest League.

Wander Guante fired a perfect eighth inning before Mark Adamiak used a double play and a strikeout to face the minimum in the ninth for his league-leading 10th save.

The 1:05 p.m. Sunday series finale features a rematch of the series opener, won by Lansing 5-4, pitting Nuts right-hander Nathan Dettmer against Dragons right-hander Luke Hayden.

The Lugnuts play in Dayton through Sunday, returning home from June 10-15 vs. West Michigan. Tickets are available for purchase at the stadium box office, (517) 485-4500 or online at milb.com/lansing.

# # #