Loons Throttle Whitecaps, Take Series Behind Three Homers 

Midland, Mich. – The Great Lakes Loons (25-14) took the series finale hitting three home runs against the West Michigan Whitecaps (22-17), en route to a 6-3 win on a gorgeous 72-degree Sunday at Dow Diamond.

Great Lakes increased their Midwest League East Division lead, to three games over West Michigan.

Justin Wrobleski twirled his second straight quality start, with five completed innings. The left-hander did not permit a run through his first four innings, accumulating three strikeouts.

The Loons provided run support in the top of the fourth. After three hits but three left on through the first three, the fourth began with a Taylor Young walk. Alex Freeland then strode into the right-hand batter’s box and belted the first pitch he saw over the right field fence, his fourth hit this season in 27 appearances against a left-hander.

West Michigan did respond and tied the game, with a homer of their own. Gaining their first hit off Wrobleski, Danny Serretti doubled down the left-field line. He advanced home after a missile of the bat of Chris Meyers, a 469-foot homer out of the stadium. Meyers homered twice, he had a solo dinger with two outs in the ninth, for the Whitecaps' third run.

The Loons grabbed their third run and the lead 3-2 in the fifth. West Michigan’s Christian Tortosa, struggled to find the plate walking three batters, a wild pitch brought home the leader runner Austin Gauthier.

Aldry Acosta and *Christian Suarez *secured the one-run lead in the fifth and sixth. They combined for three strikeouts.

Great Lakes broke open the game with two homers in back-to-back innings. In the seventh, a two-run shot by Damon Keith, who stroked a 0-1 pitch to deep right field, his third homer of the series. Yeiner Fernandez scored after reaching on a four-pitch walk. The bottom of the eighth saw an Austin Gauthier solo blast off Jack Anderson to left-center field. Gauthier’s fifth of 2023.

Antonio Knowlesrecorded the final five outs and his first save of the season. He struck out two, working around three base knocks and the potential tying runner at the plate in the eighth.

No game action tomorrow, but the Loons will load the buses and head to Peoria, Illinois. They start a six-game road series with the Peoria Chiefs (High-A St. Louis Cardinals) on Tuesday, May 23rd, first pitch is at 7:35 p.m. ET.

The Great Lakes Loons have been the Single-A partner of the Los Angeles Dodgers since the team’s inception in 2007. Dow Diamond serves as the team’s home and also houses the Michigan Baseball Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit public charity, and ESPN 100.9-FM. For tickets or information about the Loons, call 989-837-BALL or visit Loons.com.