Nuts sleigh Loons, 8-5, on Christmas in July

LANSING, Mich. – Jared Sprague-Lott racked up two hits, including a solo home run, scored three runs and collected two RBIs to help the Lansing Lugnuts (10-18, 39-53) skate to an 8-5 win over the Great Lakes Loons (18-10, 54-38) in front of a crowd of 6,896 celebrating Christmas in July on Saturday night at JacksonⓇ Field™.

Four batters recorded multi-hit games as the Nuts cracked a total of 11 hits in winning for the third time in five games. A victory in the Sunday finale would give Lansing the series win against the East Division-leading Loons.

In July, Sprague-Lott is slashing .329/.442/.457 with 17 runs scored, 13 RBIs, three doubles, two home runs and 14 walks over 18 games.

“I have a lot of guys around me every day just helping me day in and day out and just encouraging me to stick with it,” Sprague-Lott said. “Trusting my plan, and I knew over time, just gotta keep grinding at-bats, and things will figure itself out. Still a long ways to go, but shout out to my teammates, my coaches, everybody, for sure.”

Lansing ambushed Loons starter Brady Smith in his Midwest League debut; walks to Sprague-Lott and Daniel Bucciero coupled with an Ali Camarillo single loaded the bases before Jake Reinisch shot a two-run double down the left-field line to take a 2-1 lead. A Logan Sauve sacrifice fly brought home Bucciero for a 3-1 edge.

The lead snowballed in the second as Carlos Pacheco, C.J. Pittaro and Sprague-Lott rattled off first-pitch singles, with Sprague-Lott’s plating Pacheco. Camarillo scored Pittaro with a sacrifice fly and Reinisch picked up his third RBI with a single to left, bringing Sprague-Lott home to make it 6-2.

In the bottom of the fourth, Sprague-Lott gifted the Nuts a 7-2 advantage with his fourth home run of the season, a solo homer onto Home Run Hill beyond left field.

“Got (a) 3-1 count and just wanted to stay on the attack, be on the offensive and get the head out, and it worked out,” Sprague-Lott said.

Pacheco put a bow on Lansing’s scoring with his second triple of the series in the fifth, an RBI shot into right field to bring Pineda around for an 8-3 lead.

Great Lakes scored two runs in the seventh with a Nico Perez RBI triple and a Logan Wagner ground out RBI, but Lansing wrapped it up in the eighth and ninth for the win.

In his first start since August 31, 2025, Tucker Novotny iced two batters and allowed two hits, four walks and two runs; a Charles Davalan solo home run on the second pitch of the game and a bases-loaded walk of Davalan to bring in Samuel Muñoz in the second.

“I was excited to get out there, and it was fun,” Novotny said. “It wasn't the greatest outing, but it was a lot of fun to start the game again. But yeah, the mindset was just kinda take it the same as any other day. I mean, there's a little more emotion there that caught up with me at times, but I was able to get out of it at good times and keep the runs low. But yeah, it was a fun day and kinda fun to be in that starter mindset again.”

Behind the starter, Tzu-Chen Sha pitched 2 ⅔ innings, allowing one hit, one run and one walk with one strikeout before Luis Carrasco took over and tossed a four-hit, two-run 2 ⅓ innings. Griffin Kirn fired a perfect eighth before Abel Mercedes faced the minimum in the ninth for his third save.

Behind Sprague-Lott, Camarillo went 2-for-3 with one run scored and one RBI, Pacheco hit 2-for-4 with a run scored and one RBI and Reinisch finished 2-for-4 with three RBIs.

“We've got a lot of momentum right now, and two wins in a row now against a very good team is just because we're working hard,” Novotny said. “We're working hard, and we're trying to get better.”

Lugnuts starter Steven Echavarria is slated for a rematch against Loons lefty Sterling Patick on Sunday, with both having pitched the first game of the series on Tuesday. Gates open at 12:00 p.m. for a Capital City Market Kids Day, and first pitch is scheduled for 1:05. For tickets and more information, call (517) 485-4500 or visit www.milb.com/lansing.

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