Captains drop playoff opener to Loons
(Eastlake, OH) - The Lake County Captains (34-35, 74-63) lost game one of the Midwest League Quarterfinals on Wednesday night at Classic Park. Lake County fell to the Great Lakes Loons in the opening contest of the best-of-three series, 6-4.
(Eastlake, OH) - The Lake County Captains (34-35, 74-63) lost game one of the Midwest League Quarterfinals on Wednesday night at Classic Park. Lake County fell to the Great Lakes Loons in the opening contest of the best-of-three series, 6-4.
A pair of solo homers put the Loons on top early. After Captains starter
Lake County did not tally a hit until the fifth, but scratched across its first run in the bottom of the third. After pitching two perfect frames to begin the game, Loons starter
The Loons added an insurance run in the fourth.
A pair of Captains errors helped the Loons add two more tallies in the top of the fifth. Yurchak and
The Captains finally put a tally in the hit column in the bottom of the fifth and Holmes atoned for his error with an RBI knock to trim the Loons' lead to 5-2. Engelmann singled off of Bruihl with one out, stole second and moved to third on a wild pitch. Holmes then slammed a single into centerfield to bring home Engelmann.
Great Lakes added a run in the seventh on back-to-back doubles. Valera doubled with one out off of reliever Nick Gallagher and Heyer followed with a double to drive him in. The Captains, however, had an answer in the bottom of the inning.
Scolamiero singled with one out in the seventh and Holmes followed with a line drive double to left-centerfield, bringing Scolamiero home.
The Captains brought the tying run to the plate in the ninth, but could not come back. After reliever
Bruihl (1-0) picked up the win for the Loons. The lefty pitched 2.2 innings and allowed one run on three hits. He struck out two and walked one.
McCarthy (0-1) took the loss for Lake County. The right-hander pitched five innings and allowed five runs, three earned. He struck out three, walked none and gave up 10 hits.
The quarterfinals series shifts to Midland, MI for game two on Thursday night. Lake County needs to win in order to force a decisive third game on Friday. First pitch for game two is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. at Dow Diamond.
Individual game tickets for all Captains games are on sale at the Classic Park box office, online at captainsbaseball.com and by phone at 440-954-WINS (9467). Information can be found at the Captains website www.captainsbaseball.com.