Sinkholes Close Home Slate with 1-0 Win in Front of 6,219

The Bowling Green Sinkholes finished off their 2019 home schedule with a 1-0 victory in front of a season-high 6,219 fans at Bowling Green Ballpark. Bowling Green improved to 80-56, 41-25 in the second half, and will travel to South Bend for the final series of the season, which begins Saturday night with a 6:05 p.m. first pitch.

For the first three innings, Alan Strong and Lake County starter Eli Lingos traded zeroes. After Strong sun a scoreless fourth, Lingos struck out the first two batters in the bottom half of the frame. However, with two outs, Ruben Cardenas crushed a 1-1 delivery over the left-field wall for his 13^th home run of the season, giving the Sinkholes a 1-0 lead.
The Captains threatened in the fifth against Strong, putting two runners on with one out, but Strong battled back, finishing his outing by striking out Quentin Holmes and Clark Scolamiero to end the inning and preserve the lead, which he handed off to Hector Figueroa.
After a scoreless sixth, Figueroa allowed consecutive singles with two outs in the seventh, but he induced a fielder's choice from Holmes to strand the tying run at second.
Figueroa gave way to Michael Costanzo, who threw a spotless eighth before throwing a wild pitch on a strikeout to begin the ninth. After a foulout, Jesse Berardi rolled into a 4-6-3 double play to end the game, locking down the 1-0 win to end the home slate.
Strong (10-4) threw 5.0 scoreless innings, allowing four hits and a walk, while striking out six and earning the win. Figueroa added 2.0 scoreless innings of relief, working around three hits, while striking out three. Costanzo threw 2.0 shutout innings of his own, striking out one and earning his third save.
Notes: Proctor has hit in four-consecutive games…He notched his 36^th multi-hit game… Schnell had his eight-game hitting streak snapped…Figueroa recorded his third-straight scoreless outing… The Sinkholes drew 6,219 fans tonight, the fifth-largest crowd in franchise history…It's the largest crowd this season and largest since April 26, 2017…This is the third time this year BG has drawn over 6,000 fans, matching the 2009 and 2017 teams for most all-time…BG drew 190,877 fans this season to Bowling Green Ballpark, the most since drawing 200,777 in 2015…BG won 1-0 for the first time since August 8, 2018 against Fort Wayne…This is the ninth shutout win this season…BG is now 22-12-6 in series this year…Bowling Green is 18-10 in the month of August… BG finished the season 45-24 at home…It's the third-best home record in franchise history (behind 2011 and 2018)… BG has won 80 games for the fifth time in franchise history…Bowling Green is 20-17 against left-handed starters…BG won for the 17^th time when being out-hit by their opponent…Bowling Green will travel to South Bend to take on the Cubs in the final series of the regular season, which begins Saturday night with first pitch at 6:05 p.m. CDT…RHP Easton McGee (7-5, 3.59) will start for Bowling Green, while South Bend counters with RHP Kohl Franklin (0-0, 0.00)…Fans can catch all the action with Shawn Murnin on Willie 107.9 FM, as well as, with their smart phones via the MiLB First Pitch app and TuneIn Radio app.
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