9,000+ watch Lugnuts beat Captains, 5-3

Jackson McClelland notched his eighth save of the year, closing out the Lugnuts' fifth win in their last six games. (Tyler Marcotte)

By Jesse Goldberg-Strassler

May 23, 2017

LANSING, Mich. - Christian Williams drilled a game-tying double in the sixth and provided a tie-breaking sacrifice fly in the eighth, lifting the Lansing Lugnuts (24-18) to a 5-3 victory over the Lake County Captains (16-27) in a Tuesday matinee at Cooley Law School Stadium.A crowd of 9,165 packed in for

LANSING, Mich. - Christian Williams drilled a game-tying double in the sixth and provided a tie-breaking sacrifice fly in the eighth, lifting the Lansing Lugnuts (24-18) to a 5-3 victory over the Lake County Captains (16-27) in a Tuesday matinee at Cooley Law School Stadium.

A crowd of 9,165 packed in for a Grand Slam School Day, the largest home crowd of the season to date.

The Nuts have scored at least five runs in six straight games, winning five of them. Lansing's offense leads the Midwest League in batting average, on-base percentage, runs scored, hits and walks.

The Lugnuts had grabbed leads of 1-0 and 2-1 behind starter Patrick Murphy , but a two-run homer by Gavin Collins brought the Captains a 3-2 lead in the sixth.

With two outs in the bottom of the sixth and Bo Bichette at second base, Lake County manager Larry Day brought left-handed reliever Ben Krauth to face the left-handed hitting Williams. Lansing's first baseman responded, driving a double to the wall in right-center to tie the game at 3-3.

In the eighth, Edward Olivares led off with a triple against Krauth (Loss, 3-2). After a Bichette popout, Bradley Jones walked and stole second. That put the onus on Williams, whose subsequent fly to center was plenty deep enough to score Olivares. J.B. Woodman followed with an RBI single, providing an insurance run.

Murphy twirled 5 2/3 innings for Lansing, striking out three and allowing three runs on six hits and a walk.

Dan Lietz (Win, 2-0) followed with 2 1/3 hitless, scoreless innings of relief, striking out two Captains in both the seventh and eighth innings.

Jackson McClelland (Save, 8) worked around a two-out single in a scoreless ninth.

The third game of the four-game series (and eight-game homestand) is a Winning Wednesday: a Lugnuts victory guarantees admission to a future Nuts game this year! Right-hander Justin Maese (4-2, 4.09) starts against Captains left-hander Juan Hillman (1-3, 8.44). Tickets may be purchased at the Cooley Law School Stadium box office, by calling (517) 485-4500 or via lansinglugnuts.com.
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