Photo: Joey Schneider / Believeland Media LLC
Eastlake, OH- The Lake County Captains (54-39) have been on a roll as of late, winning four games in a row, and looking to extend that to five on Saturday against the Dayton Dragons (44-40). On the mound for the Captains was RHP Tommy Mace (0-4, 6.02 ERA) with Thomas Farr (0-4, 6.12 ERA starting for the Dragons.
The Captains had plenty of traffic on the bases in the first 4 innings with 7 hits, but hit into three double plays in each of the first three innings, with two of them being inning ending.
In the top of the 6th inning, the Dragons 3B J.V. Martinez singled up the middle followed by a single to right by CF Austin Hendrick, giving Dayton runners with first and second with only one out. 1B Ruben Ibarra popped out to third, after which Captains pitcher Tommy Mace was pulled in favor of the better pitching match up with LHP Randy Labaut (7-1, 1.47 ERA) relieving to face Dayton's lefty 2B Tyler Callahan.
Tommy Mace who has had his struggles as of late pitched a great game throwing 5.2 innings, giving up 5 hits, no runs, and striking out 5. This was a much needed outing for the prospect out of Florida.
After a line out to start the bottom of the sixth by Captains RF Alexfri Planez, CF Petey Halpin doubled to left. Up next was the scorching hot LF Johnathan Rodriguez singled for his third hit of the night, and putting runners on the corners with Gabriel Rodriguez coming up. Rodriguez was able to bring in Halpin from third on a sacrifice fly. 2B Aaron Bracho walked to the plate hitting only .156 on the season and blasted a 2 run home run to right field giving the Captains a 3-0 lead.
Dayton's Myles Gayman (2-0, 3.41 ERA) came in to relieve Thomas Farr with two outs in the bottom of the 6th and 2 outs. Gayman was able to get Lake County's C Micael Ramirez to ground out to end the inning. Farr pitched 5.2 innings, giving up 10 hits, 3 runs, all earned, and struck out 4.
After stellar pitching, Labaut gave up a solo home run to the Dragon's 3B J.V. Martinez, cutting the lead to 3-1. CF Austin Hendrick then hit a high blooper to center field that Petey Halpin dove to catch, but couldn't hang on and allowed Hendrick to get to second base with no outs. Labaut balked, moving Hendrick to third. After a absolute battle with 1B Ruben Ibarra at the plate, Labaut walked Ibarra putting runners at the corners still with no outs. 2B Tyler Callahan singled up the middle scoring Hendrick, while still having runners at the corners with no outs. That would be it for Randy Labaut giving up 2 runs, 4 hits, 2 walks, and 3 K's in 1.1 innings. He was replaced by Davis Sharpe (6-3, 1.77 ERA) to try and get out of the inning. The first batter he faced was Dayton's RF Justice Thompson and he hit Thompson up in the shoulder loading the bases. He struck out LF Garrett Wolforth to get the first out of the inning. In what was the most dramatic moment of the game, DH Jonathan Willems hit a fly ball to right field that was caught by Captains Alexfri Planez and he then launched the ball to home and on a one hopper threw out Ruben Ibarra trying tag up to end the inning and the Captains still led 3-2.
Petey Halpin started the bottom of the 8th with a single. Followed by another single by Johnathan Rodriguez, his 4th hit of the night. A walk to Gabriel Rodriguez loaded the bases for 2B Aaron Bracho, who hit into a fielder's choice, but scored Halpin from 3rd. DH Korey Holland added another run with a single to center, giving the Captains a 5-2 lead.
Davis Sharpe stayed in the game in the top of the ninth and went one, two, three to end the game and give the Captains their 5th straight win and improving their record to 46-39. Dayton drops to 44-41 on the season.
After the game I talked to Coach Greg Dicenzo on a variety of topics and as always he gave a great interview and insight into the Captains winning as of late.
The Captains look to keep the winning steak alive as they face The Dragons in the last game of the series and home stand tomorrow, with a 1:00 PM start time, again at Classic park in Eastlake.
Players of the Game
Captains
Johnathan Rodriguez 4-4, 2 runs
Dragons
J.V. Martinez 2-5, home run, 1 run, 1 RBI
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