Offensive Outburst Leads to Series Sweep

Eastlake, OH - The LumberKings pounded out 18 hits in a 13-7 drubbing of the Captains on Saturday afternoon at Classic Park to sweep the three-game series. What was a back-and-forth affair turned into a blowout when Clinton scored six runs in the top of the ninth inning.

Matt Anderson started for Clinton and was staked to a 2-0 lead before stepping foot on the mound. Lake County quickly came back to tie it in their half of the first and then took a 3-2 lead in the second inning. 

A Bases-loaded, two-out, two-run double by Tim Lopes gave the LumberKings the lead in the fourth inning at 4-3. They added a run in the sixth on Gaby Guerrero's RBI single to extend the lead to 5-3. 

Again, the Captains had an answer. They scored a single tally against Anderson in the sixth to trim the lead to 5-4. The right-hander would eventually give way for Oliver Garcia with one on and one out in the seventh. Garcia promptly gave up a run-scoring single to LeVon Washington to tie the game. Washington was a perfect 5-for-5 at the plate for Lake County. Washington gave the Captains a 6-5 lead when he scored on a passed ball two batters later. 

It would be short lived as the LumberKings came right back with two runs of their own in the eighth. Four consecutive hits to start the inning against Felix Sterling did the trick. Jabari Henry's RBI double tied the game and Guillermo Pimentel's run-scoring single made it 7-6, Clinton.

For good measure, they sent ten to the plate in the ninth and came away with six runs on four hits, two walks and a dropped pop-up on the infield. 

Lopes led the offensive outburst with a four-hit day and Kivlehan added three hits and four RBIs. Along with Lopes and Kivlehan, multi-hit games came from Henry, Guerrero, Taylor Ard and Ketel Marte.

Clinton travels southwest to begin a three-game series with the Fort Wayne TinCaps on Sunday. The LumberKings send right-hander Dylan Unsworth (2-0, 3.60) to the mound in game one against TinCaps right-hander Zach Eflin (0-2, 7.94). First pitch is scheduled for 2:05 PM CT at Parkview Field .