Rally in the 10th falls short against Dragons

Longo gets two doubles, three RBI

A spirited comeback went for naught as the Captains dropped an 8-7 decision to the Dayton Dragons on Aug. 19 at Classic Park.

The Captains scored one run in the bottom of the eighth to pull into a 6-6 tie. After a scoreless ninth inning forced extra innings, the Dragons scored two runs in the top of the 10th inning to move ahead, 8-6.

Dayton got its first run in the 10th when Carlos Rivero got to Lake County reliever Henry Martinez and later scored a Martinez throwing error. Beltre later scored on a sacrifice fly by Randy Ventura.

The Captains put a charge into the capacity crowd of 7,827 when Emmanuel Tapia opened the bottom of the 10th inning with a tape-measure home run to center field to make it 8-7. It was Tapia’s 26th home run of the season, two shy of the franchise record of 28 established by Ryan Goleski in 2004.

Dragons reliever Aaron Fossas (4-1, 2.56 ERA) buckled down after that misstep and recorded the victory. Martinez (5-3, 3.27 ERA) was tagged with the loss.

The Captains slipped to 23-32 with the loss, their fifth in the last six games. Dayton improved to 18-37.

Meanwhile, for the Captains, the Mitch Longo show continues.

The former Mayfield High School and Ohio University standout was 2-for-4 with two doubles, three RBI and a run scored. He helped Lake County climb back from a 6-1 deficit with a three-run double in the bottom of the fifth inning off Dayton starter Matt Blandino. Earlier in the frame, Alexis Pantoja started the outburst with a leadoff double and raced home when Jose Vicente followed with an RBI double to make it 6-3. Longo’s clutch double to center field narrowed the gap to 6-5.

In 48 games with the Captains, Longo is batting .376 with 15 doubles, four home runs, 25 RBI and 35 runs.

Longo had made a powerful impression with his bat despite missing the first month of the season after having surgery on his hand in spring training. He also spent a month on the disabled list, from May 25 to June 26, with a sore wrist.

The highlight of Longo’s season thus far was a 42game on-base streak that included hitting streaks of 12, nine and seven games. That streak ended on Aug. 17 in a 9-1 road loss to the Bowling Green (Ky.) Hot Rods.

Longo has the highest batting average on the Captains and would lead the Midwest League if his