‘Caps Play Longball in 6-1 Win
PEORIA, IL – The West Michigan Whitecaps hit a season-high four home runs as Max Anderson, Luke Gold, Danny Serretti, and Josh Crouch all went deep in a 6-1 win over Peoria Chiefs on Friday night at Dozer Park. The Whitecaps, who hadn’t homered in the first three games of
PEORIA, IL – The West Michigan Whitecaps hit a season-high four home runs as Max Anderson, Luke Gold, Danny Serretti, and Josh Crouch all went deep in a 6-1 win over Peoria Chiefs on Friday night at Dozer Park.
The Whitecaps, who hadn’t homered in the first three games of the series, saved all their homers for Friday, breaking their 2024 record of three previously set on May 1 as part of a 13-11 win at Dayton. Meanwhile, ‘Caps starting pitcher Jaden Hamm dominated yet again, retiring the last 13 batters he faced after surrendering a solo home run to Chiefs outfielder Won Bin Cho in the first inning.
The Chiefs enjoyed the first run of the contest, but that was about the extent of what they enjoyed throughout the evening. Cho’s home run opened the scoring for Peoria, but Hamm settled into a groove from that point on, denying the remaining hitters he faced the chance to reach base. In the fourth, Anderson and Gold launched back-to-back home runs, becoming the first ‘Caps hitters to homer consecutively since July 27, 2023, when Eliezer Alfonzo and Gage Workman accomplished the feat against Fort Wayne at LMCU Ballpark. In the fifth, Serretti followed suit with a two-run shot – his third homer of the year – to double the lead to 4-1, and Crouch launched his fifth home run of 2024 to help West Michigan set a new season-high in round-trippers.
The Whitecaps record improves to 18-19, while Peoria drops to 13-24. Hamm (1-0) gets his first win of the season, allowing just one hit without walking a batter and striking out four, while Chiefs starter Brycen Mautz (0-4) gave up four ‘Caps runs in taking his fourth loss. ‘Caps pitchers Marco Jimenez and Zack Hess combined to toss the final four innings of scoreless baseball to finish the contest, giving West Michigan pitchers just six runs allowed in the four games of this series. Josh Crouch and Peyton Graham each posted multi-hit games as part of the ‘Caps victory, with Graham collecting three hits, to guarantee them a series split with a chance to notch a series win with a victory in either of the remaining two games over the weekend.
UP NEXT
The Whitecaps and Peoria Chiefs play the penultimate game of this six-game series on Saturday night at 8:05 pm. Pitchers Dylan Smith and Quinn Mathews get the starts for West Michigan and Peoria. Don’t miss the action; tune into broadcast coverage with Dan Hasty on the Whitecaps Baseball Network at 7:50 pm on 106.1 FM ‘The Ticket’ and 1340 WJRW-AM in Grand Rapids. Get tickets for all 2024 home contests or listen to games live at whitecapsbaseball.com.