Loons' Beaty collects career-high five hits

Even at less than his best and in the midst of rain delays totaling two hours, Matt Beaty kept on hitting.

The Dodgers 12th-round Draft pick pounded out a career-best five hits Saturday night as Class A Great Lakes hammered South Bend, 15-0, at Four Winds Field.

"Honestly, I wasn't seeing the ball all that great," Beaty said. "It was just one of those days where everything was going our way. Balls were finding holes and everybody was just hitting the ball hard, up and down the lineup."

The 22-year-old infielder singled through the left side in his first at-bat and beat out an infield hit to the right side before the tarp came out in the fifth inning.

"We were just anxious to get the game going because we had a long bus trip ahead of us," Beaty said. "It's just one of those things that happens in baseball. We were able to stay relaxed and keep loose and be ready when it was time to play again."

Fortunately, Beaty adheres to a similar routine before each at-bat. The delay failed to throw him off his game as the Tennessee native produced an RBI double in the fifth, a run-scoring infield single in the sixth and a leadoff single in the ninth.

The career night pushed Beaty's Midwest League average to .305 -- his highest mark since Aug. 8 -- in his 53rd game with the Loons. Wrapping up his first professional season, he said he's pleased with the early returns.

"Maybe a little surprised," he said. "It's just great to see that all the hard work I put in and the success that I was able to have in college, to see it be able to translate into pro ball.

"Just because pro ball can be such a drag, playing every single day. Sometimes when you're not seeing the ball well and you have a couple no-hit days it can kind of be a domino effect. I think it's just an important thing taking each at-bat as a new day, not letting it turn into that domino effect, just grinding it out."

The longer schedule has been the biggest adjustment for Beaty coming out of Dresden High School in Tennessee.

"I think the big thing is just staying healthy, which is hard to ask since it's my first time playing every single day," he said. "I think that can be a grind. So it's kind of just getting experience, getting used to this. It's what we do now, we play baseball every single day … so I think just having the experience of staying healthy and knowing what I need to do is the main thing."

Great Lakes first baseman Brian Wolfe singled and doubled twice, driving in two runs, to extend his hitting streak to a Midwest League season-high 17 games. 

Michael Boyle (1-1) cruised with the offensive support, allowing two hits and striking out five without issuing a walk over five innings. 

Cubs starter Zach Hedges (7-8) was roughed up for 10 runs on 11 hits and two walks while striking out six over four-plus frames.