Greenwell, Captains improve to 8-0
Center fielder Bo Greenwell homered, singled and drove in five runs on Thursday night as the Captains won their eighth straight game to open the 2010 season, 6-4, at Lansing. Lake County is the last remaining undefeated team in the Minor Leagues.
Left fielder Casey Frawley led off the game with a triple and quickly scored on Greenwell's groundout to second base. After Lansing starter Dave Sever walked the first two batters of the third inning, Greenwell sent a blast off the railing at the top of the 23-foot wall in right field. The ball bounced toward center and Greenwell rounded the bases for an inside-the-park home run, his first of the season. He added an RBI single in the sixth.
The Indians' sixth-round pick in the 2007 Draft, Greenwell batted .290 with two homers and 26 RBIs in 60 games for Lake County last season. He is the son of former Major Leaguer Mike Greenwell.
In his last three games, the left-handed hitter is 9-for-14 with 10 RBIs. With four multi-hit games already this season, Greenwell is batting .433.
Despite his torrid streak, Greenwell isn't the only Lake County player tearing up the Midwest League. The team, which played in the South Atlantic League in its previous seven seasons, entered play on Thursday with a combined .301 average -- 28 points higher than the second-place club, West Michigan. Leadoff man Frawley is hitting .500 and has scored seven runs in four games, while third baseman Jeremie Tice and right fielder Greg Folgia are both batting .379.
Lake County's Francisco Jimenez improved to 3-0 with 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief.
Lansing shortstop Ryan Goins collected three hits and scored twice, while right fielder Bradley Glenn hit his second homer of the season, a solo shot in the third. Nestor Molina (1-1) took the loss for the Lugnuts, who fell to 3-5.