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Lake County Sentinel
Captains use late comeback to thwart Whitecaps 6-3     
BY ANDREW GUARINO
      STAFF WRITER
(EASTLAKE, OH) – The Lake County Captains defeated the West Michigan Whitecaps 6-3 Thursday evening from Classic Park in Eastlake, Ohio. West Michigan came into the game looking for revenge after a four run eighth inning Wednesday night by Lake County led them to victory. Thursday's nights game would be another exciting one with another late rally by the Captains leading then to their third straight victory. 

Lake County got off to a good start. As the second Lake County batter Brayan Rocchio got a one out double to left field. That would bring José Tena to the plate. Tena hit a slow bouncing ball to the first basemen Eliezer Alfonzo; Alfonzo made a clean play on the ball but threw the ball over the pitchers head who went to cover first. The throwing error allowed Tena to go to second and scored Rocchio. 

Logan Allen dominated the first four innings of the game. The fifth inning came around and you could Allen was starting to tire out. He retired the first two batters of the fifth inning before giving up a solo hom run to second baseman Corey Joyce. The balled sailed about 4 rows up into the left field bleachers. The sixth inning Allen really started to struggle. He walked the lead off batter Trei Cruz. Then when Allen threw over on an attempted pick off the ball went over Aaron Bracho's head. Cruz got all the way to third on the throwing error. Allen got the next batter Eliezer Alfonzo to pop up to José Tena. Allen would be replaced by Nick Gallagher following the pop up. Daniel Cabrera would be the first batter Gallagher faced and Cabrera ripped a line drive single to center allowing Cruz to score. The Captains wouldn't let the Whitecaps enjoy the lead very long. Bryan Rocchio doubled to lead off the bottom of the 6th inning. Rocchio would get to third on a ground by George Valera. Aaron Bracho two out broken bat bloop single brought Valera home. Raynel Delgado hit a sharp and hard hit grounder to third base Whitecaps third basemen Jose King thought it was foul and let it go. That wasn't the case however it was a fair ball that went all the way to the corner, Bracho made a wide turn and headed to the play where a throw by Daniel Cabrera was on the money to gun him down. It would be 2-2 after the sixth. 

Nick Gallagher would walk Wenceel Perez to start the seventh inning. He would strike out Joyce and then get Jose king to ground, on the ground Perez advanced to second. Gallagher then threw a wild pitch allowing Perez to get it third. The wild pitch proved to be a costly mistake for Nick as Eliezer Alfonzo got a single to right field scoring Perez. The single was shallow enough that I don't believe Perez would have scored from second. After six solid innings by Adam Wolf the Whitecaps would turn to their bullpen. Sam Kessler would walk the first batter he faced on four pitches. Kessler proceeded to walk the next two batters as well. Following his third straight walk Kessler was pulled from the game and Bryce Tassin would replace him. With the bases loaded and no one out Will Brennan would step to the plate and hit a hard grounder to first . Alfonzo fielded the ball threw home to get Holmes and the catcher got the ball back to Alfonzo in the knick of time to get the double play. With runners still on second and third but now with two outs Brayan Rocchio smoked a 0-1 fastball to right for a base hit scoring the tying run. Joe Donovan was thrown out at the plate. For the second inning in a row the Captains made a costly base running mistake. 

Jared Janczak came out of the pen to relieve Gallagher to start the 8th inning of play. He shut the Whitecaps down in order striking out two. It only 13 pitches for Janczak to get through the eighth quickly getting the Captains back to the plate. Jose Tena led the eight inning off with a walk, then after a fly ball out by Pakcard; Aaron Bracho singled. This would end the night for Hess and bring in Bryce Tassin. The third pitch Tassin threw was a hanging breaking ball that Raynel Delgado crushed to deep left center field just missing a home run. Delgado settled for a two run double to give Lake County the lead. Delgado would come around to score on a single that was smoked to center by Austin Wade. Wade attempted to steal second but got caught stealing to end the inning. 

Nick Enright came in and slammed the door for the Captains. Striking out the first two batters he faced before getting Jose King to ground out to end it. 

The Captains will be back in action versus the Whitecaps Friday night in game 4/6 of the series. The Captains are expected to send right handed Tanner Burns to the mound he's 2-2 with a 2.51 era on the year. West Michigan will also send a right hander to the hill Chance Kirby who's 3-2 with a 3.48 on the season.. 
tshirer@lakecountysentinel.com or follow Tim on Twitter @TBBucsTim Check out our IndiansNation fan Page
​POSTED 06/17/2021 23:02
Lake County Captains third baseman Brayan Rocchio.              Photo by Tim Shirer