Tully's gem sends Captains to series win

(Davenport, IA) - Tanner Tully made his first start of the season count. The left-hander fired six strong innings to help the Lake County Captains (12-17) win their first series in three weeks with a 3-1 win over the Quad Cities River Bandits (15-13). Tully's performance, combined with a timely double by Li-Jen Chu and a shut-down effort by Ryder Ryan out of the bullpen, led the Captains to victory in the rubber game at Modern Woodmen Park on Sunday afternoon.
Tully appeared locked in from the first pitch. The lefty worked around a walk and a single in the first inning to keep the River Bandits off the scoreboard. After giving up a single to Jake Rogers in the first to put two men on with one out, Tully strung together 12 consecutive outs. He only allowed one ball to reach the outfield during that stretch.

River Bandits starter Ryan Hartman matched Tully, putting up four straight scoreless frames until the Captains played small ball to score in the fifth. After Luke Wakamatsu and Todd Isaacs started the inning with back-to-back singles, Jorma Rodriguez was asked to sacrifice bunt the runners over. Rodriguez took the first two pitches for strikes, but dropped down a perfect sacrifice on an 0-2 count to send Wakamatsu to third and Isaacs to second. Conner Capel then lifted a sacrifice fly to right field to give Lake County a 1-0 lead.
Quad Cities answered quickly in the bottom of the inning. Stephen Wrenn ripped a one-out double and Daz Cameron singled to put runners on the corners. In nearly a carbon copy of the Captains' scoring play, Quad Cities nine-hitter Taylor Jones hit a sacrifice fly to right field, scoring Wrenn to tie the game at 1-1.
The game did not remain tied for long. In the top of the sixth, Miguel Eladio and Logan Ice ripped back-to-back singles off of Hartman, knocking the lefty out of the ballgame. Right-hander Lucas Williams came in to face Chu and the Captains' catcher came up big. Chu socked a line drive double to the right-centerfield gap and Eladio scored to give Lake County a 2-1 lead. Shortly thereafter, Ice scored on a wild pitch to make it 3-1.
The River Bandits threatened in the eighth inning, but Ryan shut the door. Michael Letkewicz, who had pitched a perfect seventh inning, walked Ronnie Dawson and Alex De Goti on eight pitches and Ryan came in from the bullpen with two men on and nobody out. Ryan escaped the jam. He got Rogers, the River Bandits' three-hitter, to hit into a 6-4-3 double play and then hander got Randy Cesar to fly out to centerfield to end the inning and keep the Captains ahead by two runs.
Ryan nailed down the save in the ninth inning. The reliever induced a pair of pop-ups, walked Wrenn and struck out Cameron looking to end the ballgame. It was Ryan's first save of the season and the second of his professional career.
Tully (1-1) earned the victory for Lake County. The left-hander pitched six innings and allowed just one run on four hits. He struck out three and walked one in the winning effort.
Hartman (3-1) took the loss. The River Bandits' southpaw pitched five innings and allowed all three Captains runs on five hits. Hartman surrendered five hits, walked a pair and struck out four.
Lake County's victory gives the Captains back-to-back victories and three wins in their last four contests. The Captains took two out of three from Quad Cities, giving them their first series win since they took back-to-back games from Bowling Green April 17 and 18. Lake County finished 3-3 on its six-game road trip to Iowa.
The Captains return to Classic Park to begin a six-game homestand on Monday. The homestand starts with a three-game set against the Beloit Snappers. First pitch on Monday is set for 6:30 PM.
Individual game tickets for all Captains games are on sale at the Classic Park box office, online at captainsbaseball.com and by phone at 440-954-WINS (9467). Full season tickets plans, 12-, 20-, and 35-game mini ticket plans for the 2017 season are on sale now at great prices complete with several exclusive benefits. Information can be found at the Captains website www.captainsbaseball.com.