‘Caps Thump Fort Wayne, 14-6
FORT WAYNE, IN – The West Michigan Whitecaps red-hot offense continued to impress on Saturday, as a 10-run third inning helped West Michigan cruise to a 14-6 win over the Fort Wayne TinCaps in front of 7,575 fans at Parkview Field. The victory guarantees the Whitecaps a series win in
FORT WAYNE, IN – The West Michigan Whitecaps red-hot offense continued to impress on Saturday, as a 10-run third inning helped West Michigan cruise to a 14-6 win over the Fort Wayne TinCaps in front of 7,575 fans at Parkview Field.
The victory guarantees the Whitecaps a series win in a six-game set for the first time since taking four of six from Fort Wayne at LMCU Ballpark from July 7-12 and gives West Michigan a chance to take five out of six with a victory on Sunday afternoon. The double-digit scoring output marked the fourth time in the five games of this series in which West Michigan tallied ten runs or more, and the team has now averaged over ten runs per contest on the week despite being shutout in a 3-0 loss on Thursday.
The Whitecaps took an early lead with single runs in the first and second innings, highlighted by an RBI single from Roberto Campos, who returned to the club after missing nearly four months with a shoulder injury, to give West Michigan an early 2-0 lead. Fort Wayne infielder Bradley Frye launched his first home run as a member of the TinCaps with a two-run shot to even the score at two after two innings, but the ‘Caps responded enormously. The ten-run third inning gave West Michigan a 12-2 lead. It featured a two-run single by Juan Hernandez, and run-scoring singles by Woody Hadeen, Campos, and Cristian Santana to give West Michigan its biggest inning of the season and cruise to its fourth win in five games of the series.
The Whitecaps climb to 23-18 in the second half and 47-58 overall, while the TinCaps drop to 19-20 in the second half and 46-59 overall. Brady Smith (1-0) allowed just two runs on two hits while striking out four in his Detroit Tigers organizational debut to earn his first win as a Whitecap, while TinCaps starter Bryan Balzer (1-2) gave up six runs in two frames in taking his second loss of the season. Every Whitecaps player reached safely at least once, while the 10-run inning was the largest for West Michigan since they plated 13 runs in a single frame last season in a June 13 win at Lansing. Hadeen led the Whitecaps with a four-hit game, collecting all four hits in the first four innings of the contest.
UP NEXT
The Whitecaps conclude this six-game series at Parkview Field against the Fort Wayne TinCaps on Sunday afternoon, with first pitch scheduled for 1:05 pm. Pitchers Connor Fenlong and Luis Gutierrez get the starts for West Michigan and Fort Wayne. Broadcast coverage with Dan Hasty begins on the Whitecaps Baseball Network at 12:50 pm on ‘The Ticket West Michigan’ and 1340 WJRW-AM in Grand Rapids, and online at WhitecapsBaseball.com.