Quake County rattles Lugnuts 10-4

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Lake County Sentinel

Quake County rattles Lugnuts 10-4

BY TIM SHIRER

CAPTAINS BEAT WRITER

(EASTLAKE, OH) - After a shaky morning where Lake County was rattled by a 4.2 magnitude earthquake the Lake County Captains and Lansing Lugnuts played the final game of their four-game series on Monday night. The Lugnuts took the first two games, the Captains took game three on Sunday. The finale was a record setting slugfest as the Captains prevailed 10-4 to split the series and send the 1,889 fans at Classic Park home happy.

The runs came early and often as the Captains tallied two runs in the first inning when Bo Naylor led off the inning with a double. Naylor then stole third base and Tyler Freeman flew out. Will Benson then hit a sacrifice fly to center field and Naylor came home with the first run of the game, there were many more to come. Ruben Cardenas then started off his big night by tripling to the center field gap. Mitch Reeves followed by drawing a base on balls to put men at the corners. After a visit to the mound to settle down Lansing starter Troy Watson, Lansing catcher Gabriel Moreno was charged with a passed ball and Cardenas scored Lake County’s second run.

Lansing took a brief lead in the top of the second inning when they tallied three runs off Captains starter Cody Morris. The runs came on four singles and a triple.

Lake County came right back to score five runs in the bottom of the second inning and basically put the game out of reach. The inning began with base on balls issued to Miguel Jerez and Quentin Holmes. Daniel Schneemann then singled to load the bases. After Naylor fouled out Freeman singled, and Jerez scored to tie the game. Benson who had on sac-fly entering the game hit his second one of the night and Holmes trotted home giving Lake County a 4-3 lead, a lead they never surrendered. The big blow of the inning came next when Cardenas blasted his ninth home run of the season on the grass behind the right field fence extending Lake County’s lead to 7-3.

The Captains tacked two more runs on in the fifth inning via a single by Cardenas and hit batters Mitch Reeves and Jose Fermin. Cardenas and Reeves the were driven home by Jerez (Cardenas) when he drew a base on balls and by Holmes (Reeves) when he hit a sac-fly to left field giving the Captains the 9-3 edge. Each team added a single run in the seventh inning to end the scoring.

The two teams set a league record for hit batsmen in the game as the Lugnuts pitcher hit six Captains batters. Freeman and Reeves received special treatment as they were each hit twice.

In the three-game series 55 batters combined on both teams either reached base by way of a base on balls or a hit by pitch.

Captains starting pitcher Cody Morris was credited with the win. Morris went five innings allowing three runs all earned, while scattering seven hits. He also issued one base on balls and struck out five Lugnuts. With the win Morris improves to 4-2 with a 3.60 ERA. Watson took the loss for the Lugnuts and falls to 1-1 with a 7.50 ERA.

On Tuesday night the Captains will welcome the Great Lakes Loons to town for a three-game series with game one at 7:00 p.m. Righthander Jose Chacin will be on the mound for the Loons. Chacin is 5-3 with a 4.97 ERA. The Captains will counter with their own righthander Juan Mota. Mota will be making the start after missing a turn with a pesky blister on a finger of his pitching hand. On the year Mota is 1-5 with a 5.63 ERA..