Take two: Lugnuts rout Locos, 11-4

LANSING, Mich. – Darryn Davis (Toledo) enjoyed another starring performance, Zaid Walker (Michigan State) hit a homer over 400 feet to straightaway center, and the Lugnuts beat the Locos by an 11-4 score for the second straight night on Thursday night in the Lemonade League at Cooley Law School Stadium.

The Nuts improved to 5-2 with their fourth straight win in the collegiate wood-bat league.

The Locos were feeling good early, taking a 4-1 lead in the third inning on a Kade Preston (CMU) two-run homer to left with debuting CMU ace Jordan Patty on the mound.

But Walker’s two-run homer in the bottom of the inning carved the deficit to one run, and the Lugnuts took over the game with a three-run fourth against Patty and a five-run fifth inning against relievers Brendan Bilkovic (Wayne State) and Ryan Abenth (Concordia).

Leadoff-hitting shortstop Davis was right in the thick of things. After a single in the first inning and an RBI single in the second, he doubled and scored on a Mark Connelly (LCC) single in the fourth, and then walked, stole second base, and scored on an Andrew Morrow (MSU) grounder in the fifth.

The Locos did not help their own cause, committing four errors between the fourth and fifth innings.

Lugnuts starter Dustin Renfroe (Wayne State) tossed four innings, allowing six hits, two walks, and four runs (two earned), striking out two. He was followed by spotless relief, with Elliott Patten (LCC) blanking the Locos in the fifth and sixth innings while striking out four, and John Fantauzzo (SVSU, pictured above) striking out two in a one-hit seventh.

On the hill for the Locos, Patty finished with six runs (four earned) allowed on nine hits and one walk with three strikeouts in four innings. Bilkovic followed by allowing five runs (two earned) on one hit and two walks in two-thirds of an inning, with Abenth recording the final out on a strikeout. Cal Johnston (LCC) then pitched a scoreless sixth, working around a walk.

In the loss, Alex McCormack (GVSU) went 2-for-2 with a double, triple, walk and a run scored for the Locos.

The next Lemonade League game will be played on Friday at 7 p.m. at Cooley Law School Stadium, with the Cedar Street gate opening at 6 p.m., the second of five consecutive days of Lemonade League baseball. Masks are mandatory for admission.

The Lemonade League is a college wood-bat league featuring Minor League Baseball umpires, yellow baseballs, seven-inning games, and extra innings replaced by a one-on-one Home Run Derby – although none was needed on this night. Every Lemonade League game is livestreamed FREE across multiple social and digital platforms, including the Lansing Lugnuts’ Facebook and Twitter pages.

For more information, visit lansinglugnuts.com or call (517) 485-4500.

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