‘Caps Cruise Past Captains, 13-1
EASTLAKE, OH — The West Michigan Whitecaps piled on six extra base hits as top prospects Max Clark and Josue Briceño shined in a 13-1 blowout of the Lake County Captains Wednesday evening at Classic Auto Group Park. Clark reached base four times in the victory, finishing 2-for-4 with three
EASTLAKE, OH — The West Michigan Whitecaps piled on six extra base hits as top prospects Max Clark and Josue Briceño shined in a 13-1 blowout of the Lake County Captains Wednesday evening at Classic Auto Group Park.
Clark reached base four times in the victory, finishing 2-for-4 with three runs batted in, two walks, and a stolen base. Meanwhile, Briceño collected the Whitecaps first grand slam of the season and John Peck added a three-run home run. On the other end, ‘Caps pitchers silenced Lake County, compiling 12 strikeouts while holding the Captains to 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position in the win.
West Michigan grabbed the early lead in the second inning on an RBI single from Jack Penney before exploding for six runs in the fourth – featuring a two-run single from Clark and Briceño’s grand slam – ballooning the lead to 7-0. At the same time, Whitecaps starter Rayner Castillo was solid in his debut, going four scoreless innings with five strikeouts to maintain the lead. West Michigan piled on three additional runs in the top of the fifth as Brett Callahan roped an RBI triple into the left-field corner before Graham and Clark added RBI doubles, stretching the advantage to 10-0. West Michigan relievers Trevin Michael and Haden Erbe combined for three scoreless frames with four punchouts before Peck powered a three-run homer over the right-field wall to make it a 13-0 game in the eighth. Lake County broke through in the bottom of the eighth with an RBI double from Juan Benjamin, but ‘Caps closer Micah Ashman made quick work of the Captains in the ninth, retiring the side in order to cap off the 13-1 win.
The Whitecaps improve to 4-1 while the Captains fall to 3-2. Michael (1-0) collects his first win of the year, tossing two scoreless innings with three strikeouts while Captains starter Josh Hartle (0-1) suffers his first loss, giving up four runs (three earned) through 3.1 innings of work. Every Whitecaps hitter reached base in the victory while Briceño became the first Whitecaps player to hit a grand slam since Roberto Campos on July 28, 2024, in an 11-0 victory over the Lansing Lugnuts.
UP NEXT
The Whitecaps play the third game of this series with the Lake County Captains from Classic Park Thursday night at 6:35 pm. Pitchers Joe Miller and Matt ‘Tugboat’ Wilkinson are scheduled to start on the mound for West Michigan and Lake County. Tune in to broadcast coverage on the Whitecaps Baseball Network beginning at 6:20 pm on 106.1 FM ‘The Ticket’ and 1340 WJRW-AM in Grand Rapids to catch all the action, or listen to the game live at whitecapsbaseball.com.