Berardi's bomb beats Cubs in 10th to finish homestand

South Bend, IN: In a back and forth, low scoring first nine innings, the South Bend Cubs and Lake County Captains headed to extra innings for the first time in their four game series. With an epic comeback, Jimmy Herron and the Cubs tied the game in the 9^th to head to the 10^th.

But as the game went to the 10^th, Lake County started their own rally and beat the Cubs 5-2.
On a wise move by Manager Jimmy Gonzalez, he inserted infielder Christian Donahue into the game to start the bottom of the 9^th inning. Down 2-0, the Cubs needed a rally. Donahue started the inning with a double down the left field line. South Bend had the opportunity to tie it with the go-ahead run at the plate. Eventually, the bases were loaded. 
Herron ripped a sharp line drive into right field. Easily, Donahue scored. Rafael Narea hustled around the third base bag and scored the tying run. The game was tied 2-2. 
In the top of the 10^th, it was Ben Hecht's responsibility to keep the game even. But on a delivery to shortstop Jesse Berardi, he blasted a three run home run over the right field wall towards the 1^st Source Bank Performance Center. In a flash, it was a three run, 5-2 Captains lead. 
In the bottom of the 10^th, South Bend began the inning with their automatic runner at second base in Cam Balego. Balego took third base on a groundout, but was not able to score. The Cubs dropped game four 5-2 and the series was split two games a piece. 
With the loss, the Cubs fall to 56-64 on the season. Tomorrow, South Bend will begin an enormous three game series against the Fort Wayne TinCaps on the road. Fort Wayne, who is ahead of the Cubs in the standings, is currently in a playoff spot. On the mound tomorrow, South Bend will send right hander Javier Assad to the mound from Parkview Field.