Power, pitching propel Lugnuts past Hawks

SOUTH BEND, Ind. - Jordan Leyland slugged his first Midwest League home run and drove in three runs to lead the Lansing Lugnuts (15-25, 47-62) to a 5-1 win over the South Bend Silver Hawks (23-18, 67-43) at The Cove on Friday night, earning the Lugs a split of the four-game series.

Lansing completes the season-series against South Bend with a 5-8 record.

Leyland put the Lugnuts on the board in the bottom of the second inning with a two-run single to right, scoring Kevin Patterson and Carlos Ramirez. Kellen Sweeney followed with an RBI groundout to give Lansing a 3-1 lead against South Bend starter Jesse Darrah (Loss, 9-7).

In the fifth inning, Leyland led off with a solo home run to the opposite field, his first as a member of the Lansing Lugnuts. One batter later, Dwight Smith, Jr. added a solo homer of his own, extending Lansing's lead to 5-1.

After starting 2-for-27 with Lansing since a promotion from Vancouver, Leyland is now 5-for-8 over his last two games with four RBIs and four runs scored.

After allowing a run on a sacrifice fly to the Silver Hawks in the first inning, Taylor Cole (Win, 6-10) settled down to earn the win, quieting the South Bend bats the rest of the way and at one point, retiring 12 straight hitters from the third inning through the sixth. Cole tossed six innings of one-run ball, allowing just six hits, five of which were singles. Cole had good command all night, striking out six without issuing a walk.

Griffin Murphy pitched three scoreless innings in relief of Cole to earn his first save of the season.

Darrah gave up five runs - all earned - on five hits over six innings of work against Lansing. He struck out four while issuing three free-passes.

The Lugnuts now head to Fort Wayne to take on the TinCaps, playing five games in four days. The series opens up on Saturday night at Parkview Field with first pitch set for 7:05 p.m. with Ben White (6-6, 3.62) on the mound for Lansing. He will take on TinCaps' right-hander Joe Ross (4-5, 3.54).

Lansing Lugnuts tickets are available for purchase at lansinglugnuts.com and by calling 517-485-4500, and Lugnuts text alerts are easily accessed by texting LUGNUTS to 313131.