The Top 10 Games of the 2015 Season

It was a 2015 season that featured a triple play, a crucial complete game, Stro-sanity, a division title and a walk-off series clincher. Here were our top ten games of the year:

Honorable Mention: Rally Time in Fort Wayne, April 12th.
Down to their last strike in the first road game of the season, the Lugnuts tied the TinCaps at 3-3 on a Tim Locastro infield single and won the game in the tenth on a Danny Jansen sacrifice fly. It was the first hint that the Lugnuts were ready to own the Eastern Division. Recap

Honorable Mention: Upending South Bend, May 21st.
The final score was 17-2, and it probably wasn't that close. It was the most runs any Midwest League team had scored all season, the highest scoring game for Lansing in two years. Anthony Alford, Tim Locastro and Rowdy Tellez each scored three runs and Chase De Jong came one out from his first career nine-inning complete game. Don't worry, he would get that 27th out soon enough. Recap

Honorable Mention: Hit Parade, July 24th.
How do you top 17-2? By crushing the Dayton Dragons 18-1. Shane Dawson set a career high with 10 strikeouts, Jason Leblebijian went 5-for-6 with six RBIs, the Lugnuts set a team record with 23 base hits and 1-2 hitters Chris Carlson and Alex Maldonado each scored four runs in a Friday night party at Cooley Law School Stadium. If it weren't for an Aristides Aquino home run in the ninth, the Lugs would have also set a new team record for largest margin of victory. Recap

The Top 10 Games of 2014
The Top 5 Games of 2013
The Top 10 Games of 2012
The Top 10 Games of 2011
The Top 10 Games of 2010

Here we go...

10. Marathon in Midland, April 16th.
It took four hours and 51 minutes to complete. Starlyn Suriel started it, allowing one run in five innings. Shane Dawson relieved him, allowing one run in five innings. Colton Turner came on next, recording two scoreless innings. Then it was Andrew Case's turn, and he responded with scoreless baseball for four more scoreless innings. It was the Great Lakes Loons who blinked first, inserting position-player Josmar Cordero as pitcher -- and then watching Rowdy Tellez tee off for a game-winning home run, giving the Lugnuts a 4-2 16-inning triumph. (The two teams then played an 11-inning game the next day. Later in the season, they hooked up for a 15-inning epic. There's no baseball like free baseball.) Recap

9. The Magic Man Saves the Day, May 4th.
What had been a 7-2 Lugnuts lead had been shaved down to one run. The West Michigan Whitecaps placed runners at first and second with only one out, and Franklin Navarro followed with a sizzler up the middle that looked guaranteed to tie the game. Enter the Magic Man, second baseman Tim Locastro, spearing the ball with a flying leap up the middle and turning it into a jawdropping, game-ending double play. Lansing 7, West Michigan 6. Recap

8. Eight is More Than Enough, June 8th.
Every time right fielder D.J. Davis came to the plate, there were teammates on base waiting for him -- and he made sure to keep on bringing them home. Davis blasted a three-run triple, a grand slam and an RBI double amid a 4-for-5 game, tying Ryan Gripp's single-game franchise record with eight runs batted in. It all added up to a 12-4 matinee destruction of the Peoria Chiefs, 12-4. Recap

7. Dawson Dominates, May 28th.
The Lansing Lugnuts led the Eastern Division for all of April. The Bowling Green Hot Rods led for nearly all of May. Entering May 28th, the Lugnuts and Hot Rods found themselves tied atop the division, thanks to a Danny Jansen go-ahead 9th-inning double the previous night. All-Star Shane Dawson seized the day and helped the Lugnuts retake the division lead, pitching a career high eight innings. Rowdy Tellez and Richard Urena helped supply the offense in a gritty 4-2 win. It was emotional, it was heartpounding, and it was Dawson's league-leading seventh win. Recap

6. Battle of Behemoths, June 12th.
The Lugnuts now boasted the best record in the Eastern Division, but it was the Western Division's Quad Cities River Bandits who topped the Midwest League in wins. The MWL's top teams met in a highly-anticipated mid-June showdown in Davenport, Iowa. Lansing grabbed the series opener with typical bashing before losing the first game of a doubleheader due to stellar Quad Cities pitching. The rubber match of the series saw starter Chase De Jong in his element, striking out 10 Bandits in seven brilliant shutout innings. Gunnar Heidt broke a scoreless tie with a two-run single, and the Lugnuts became the rare team to win a series at Modern Woodmen Park with a dramatic 2-0 victory. Recap

Bowling Green at Lansing, June 16th-18th.
It was the penultimate series of the first half, destined to decide the MWL Eastern Division champion. The Lugnuts returned home from their road trip to the West to find the division tied and the Hot Rods waiting.

• 5. In the opener, the Lugs made a statement. Chris Carlson struck an RBI triple, Jason Leblebijian homered, and then homered again, and Lansing pounded Bowling Green 13-3 to grab sole possession of first. Recap
   
• 4. In the second game, the Hot Rods brought a 3-1 lead to the bottom of the sixth with rain looming in the forecast. Then the Lugnuts struck: Leblebijian tied the game with a two-run single, and Tim Locastro victimized relief ace Hunter Wood with a two-run double. Bowling Green attempted a response amid an eighth-inning downpour, piecing together three consecutive singles, but Casey Gillaspie was thrown out at the plate and the game was halted early due to rain. Lugs 5, Hot Rods 3. Recap
   
• 3. Trailing the division by two games and in danger of being swept, the Hot Rods turned to their top starting pitcher, Brent Honeywell. Lansing countered with Chase De Jong. Edge: Lugnuts. De Jong struck out 10 and delivered his first career nine-inning complete game, clinching a playoff berth in a 3-1 victory. Recap

2. The Stro Show Cometh, September 2nd.
The anticipation built from the moment that Marcus Stroman announced he would be coming to Lansing for his first rehab start. Injured early in Spring Training, the Blue Jays' talented young gun had worked himself into position to return. And what a return! Stroman fired 4 2/3 scoreless innings, striking out seven Great Lakes Loons and allowing zero hits and one walk. The Lugnuts did allow seven runs with two outs in the ninth, losing 7-4, but that felt secondary on a night with a Major League feel. Recap

1. The First Walk-Off Win of the Year, September 10th.
73 regular season wins, and not one walk-off. Then came Game 2 of the Midwest League Eastern Division Semifinals. Up by one run in the ninth, one strike away from advancing, the Lugnuts watched Great Lakes strike for the tying and go-ahead runs. That sent the game to the bottom of the ninth, a confident Loons team prepared to close things out and force a decisive Game 3. It did not go as they planned. Recap