Déjà vu: Captains win again on passed ball

(Eastlake, OH) - Walk-off passed balls are not supposed to be common, but do not tell that to the Lake County Captains (13-14). For the second time this season, the Captains won a game on a walk-off passed ball when Tyler Friis scampered home in the 10^th inning to beat the Beloit Snappers (10-13) on Saturday night at Classic Park. Friis' game-winning run gave Lake County a 9-8 victory and the Captains' first extra-innings win of the season.
Saturday's game was a constant back-and forth battle with a long series of ties and lead changes. Beloit drew first blood in the opening frame against Captains starter Gregori Vasquez . Trace Loehr singled and came home to score on an RBI double by Logan Farrar. Skyler Weber then hit a chopper toward second base. Jorma Rodriguez jumped up and could only get a piece of the high-bouncing ground ball. As shortstop Ernie Clement picked up the ball in shallow right-centerfield, Farrar took a wide turn at third base. Clement fired to third, but Farrar broke toward home and scored to give Beloit a 2-0 lead.

Lake County struck back with a run in the bottom of the first against Beloit lefty Ivan Andueza. Austen Wade walked and quickly stole second base. Wade then moved up to third on a wild pitch and scored on another wild pitch to cut the Snappers' lead to 2-1.
Jack Meggs hit a leadoff homer in the second to give the Snappers a 3-1 lead, but Lake County came back in the bottom of the second. Two batters after a Will Benson one-out single, Jose Vicente homered to left field to tie the game. Friis followed the homer with a single and Clement slammed a double to put the Captains in front for the first time, 4-3. Nolan Jones padded the lead the following inning with an RBI double to push the advantage to 5-3.
This time, it was the Snappers' turn to come back. In the fourth inning, Meggs singled with one out and Miguel Mercedes promptly homered to knot the score at 5-5.
Once again, Lake County had an answer. In the bottom of the fourth, Clement singled and, two batters later, Rodriguez smoked an RBI double to put the Captains back in front, 6-5. That lead, however, was short lived.
In the top of the fifth, Vasquez hit Farrar with a pitch and Weber singled to put runners on first and second with nobody out. After Vasquez retired Jesus Lopez on a ground out, the right-hander was lifted from the game and lefty Skylar Arias came in from the bullpen for his Captains debut. Arias walked Meggs to load the bases and Mercedes, who finished just a triple shy of the cycle, singled home Farrar with the tying run. Two batters later, Mickey McDonald walked with the bases loaded to give the Snappers a 7-6 lead.
The first half of Saturday's game was packed with offense. From the first through the top of the fifth, the Captains and Snappers combined to score 13 runs. In that span, the top of the third was the only half inning in which a run did not score. After Beloit took the lead in the fifth, however, the offenses went silent.
For the Captains, Arias and Dakody Clemmer combined to pitch 3.2 innings of shutout baseball out of the bullpen. Beloit countered with Mitchell Jordan who kept the Captains off the scoreboard from the end of the fourth through the seventh.
The Snappers almost added to their lead in the top of the eighth, but Oscar Gonzalez made a key defensive play in left field. Jake Lumley was on second base and Mickey McDonald was on first with one out when Austin Beck hit a low line drive to left. Gonzalez raced in and made a headfirst dive, catching the ball just before it could touch the grass. Gonzalez then sprung to his feet and fired a strike to second base, doubling off Lumley to end the inning. If that ball fell in, it was likely an RBI single that would have pushed the Beloit lead to two runs.
The Captains had not led since the fifth inning, but a wild play put Lake County in front in the bottom of the eighth. Friis was on second following a single and a wild pitch and Clement was on first after a walk. With two outs, Rodriguez hit a soft liner over the shortstop and into left field. Friis scored easily to tie the game, but Rodriguez hustled around first base, intent on stretching his hit into a double. Rodriguez dove in at second and beat the throw, but slid past second base. Rodriguez scrambled from his stomach and reached toward second, somehow beating the tag from second baseman Trace Loehr for a second time. While Rodriguez and Loehr lay on their bellies near second, Clement, who had reached third base by this point, took off for home plate. Loehr threw home, but Clement slid around the tag by Weber, the Snappers' catcher, and the Captains took an 8-7 lead.
Manuel Alvarez came in from the Captains' bullpen to close the game out in the ninth, but the Snappers rallied. Farrar led off with a single and Weber worked a walk. Lopez tried to bunt the runners over, but bunted right in front of home and catcher Jonathan Laureano forced out Farrar at third with a strong throw. With runners on first and second, however, Meggs singled to score Weber and knot the score at 8-8. Kyle Nelson later came in from the bullpen with the bases loaded and one out. The lefty struck out pinch-hitter Anthony Churlin and then got McDonald to ground into a 6-4 fielder's choice to send the game to the bottom of the ninth.
The Captains might have walked off with a win in the ninth, if not for a stellar play in centerfield by Beck. Gonzalez led off the inning with a single and Benson walked to put runners on first and second with nobody out. Laureano went to bunt the men into scoring position, but popped the ball up and Weber hopped up out of his crouch to make a sliding catch up the third base line. That brought up Vicente. After going deep earlier, Vicente scorched a fly ball to centerfield that looked destined to go over Beck's head and win the game. Beck, however, sprinted to the warning track and made an over-the-shoulder grab for the second out. Friis then popped up to shortstop to end the inning and send the game to extra frames.
Nelson pitched his way out of a jam in the 10^th. McDonald was the free runner on second base for Beloit at the start of the 10^th and Loehr tried to bunt him over. Loehr's bunt, though, was right back to the mound. Nelson threw to third base and Friis tagged out McDonald for the first out. With Loehr on first, Beck dunked a soft single down the right field line and the Snappers had runners on first and second with one out. Nelson then struck out back-to-back lefties, getting Farrar looking and Weber swinging to end the inning unscathed.
Friis was the Captains' free runner in the 10^th with Clement leading off and Lake County manager Luke Carlin opted to let Clement swing away against lefty reliever Ty Damron. Clement, who was already 2-for-4 in the game, slammed a deep drive to centerfield. Beck again went back and made the catch shy of the warning track, but Friis tagged up and went to third base. Austen Wade came up next and on a seemingly harmless pitch to the left-handed batter, Weber dropped the baseball and let it roll behind him. As the catcher raced to gather the ball, Friis came home to score the winning run.
Lake County's middle infield paced the offense on Saturday. Rodriguez, the second baseman, went 4-for-5 with a pair of doubles, two RBI and a run scored to move his average up to .384. Meanwhile, shortstop Clement saw his average climb to .343 with a 2-for-5 performance. Clement also doubled, drove in one, scored twice and worked a walk. Both entered Saturday as two of the Midwest League's top 10 hitters by batting average.
Nelson (2-0) picked up the win in relief. The Captains' southpaw worked 1.2 innings of shutout baseball and allowed just one hit. He struck out three and walked one.
Damron (0-1) took the loss for Beloit. He recorded one out in the 10^th and gave up one unearned run. He did not allow a hit, walk a batter or record a strikeout.
The Captains and Snappers have split the first two games of their three-game series. The rubber game of the series is set for Sunday afternoon. First pitch at Classic Park is scheduled for 1:30 p.m.
Information about Classic Park or the Captains can be found online at www.captainsbaseball.com and by phone at 440-954-<st1:stockticker w:st="on">WINS (9467). Affordable ticket packages and group party and picnic options are available now.