Loons Fail to Split Series

MIDLAND, Mich. - Closing out one of the longest homestands of the season on Monday evening, the Great Lakes Loons continually couldn't make up enough ground on the Dayton Dragons as they fell 6-3 at Dow Diamond. Just six games remain for the Loons in 2017 as they were eliminated from Midwest League Playoff contention over the weekend. A road series with the Fort Wayne TinCaps and three games at home against the Bowling Green Hot Rods are all that remain.
The Dragons were able to get to Loons starter Riley Ottesen (L, 0-2) with two runs in the 1st inning and another in the 3rd to jump out an early advantage. Ottesen went three innings allowing the three runs on two hits and four walks.
Despite playing from behind the entire night, the Loons offense didn't go down without a whimper as an RBI-double came from Tyler Adkison in the 2nd inning followed by another RBI from Connor Wong in the 6th. The Loons did load the bases in the bottom of the 6th during which a fan would've won $5,000 courtesy of Miller Lite if they would've hit a grand slam.
John Sansone had a multi-hit game for the visitors going 2-for-5 with an RBI while Bruce Yari drove in the other run. Two of Dayton's runs were unearned due to three errors in the field by the Loons.
Andrew Jordan (W, 7-8) navigated through six innings allowing three runs (two earned) on six hits. He did not issue a walk and had seven strikeouts. The bullpen was stellar with Jesse Stallings (H, 8), Joel Kuhnel (H, 7) and Aaron Fossas (SV, 6) each tossing a scoreless inning to shut Great Lakes down late.
With that, only three home games remain in the season as the Loons will head to Indiana after the off day to begin a three-game series in Fort Wayne. Then it's back to Midland on Saturday to close the book on yet another season of Loons baseball over Labor Day Weekend. First pitch will be at 7:05 p.m. on Saturday, followed by back-to-back 2:05 p.m. games on Sunday and Monday.
The Great Lakes Loons are the 2016 Midwest League Champions and have been a Single-A partner of the Los Angeles Dodgers since 2007. Dow Diamond, home of the Loons, also houses ESPN 100.9-FM and the Michigan Baseball Foundation. For tickets and more information about the Loons, call 989-837-BALL or visit Loons.com.