The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Captains fall in 11 innings
A two-run first inning by Great Lakes put the Captains in an early hole. But Lake County tied things up in the seventh. After trading blows in the ninth to keep the game tied at 5-5, a threerun 11th inning by Great Lakes was too much for the Captains to overcome as they fell, 8-5, on July 22.
The Captains (37-32) sit in third in High-A Central, as Great Lakes overtook Dayton for the lead in the division.
The first two runs for Great Lakes came on similar plays with the ball being hit to shallow right center.
On one of the plays, the Captains’ George Valera had a throw that was on a rope to catcher Bryan Lavastida to prevent another run. But the next throw was off, and the runner scored.
A Deacon Liput home run in the third inning made it 3-0 Loons. Even though they were trailing early, the Captains remained calm.
“I thought that we had enough manpower and juice offensively to not think that were going to be out in the first third of the game,” said Captains manager Greg DiCenzo.
“Down 3-0 isn't ideal, but with the arms we had available coming out of the bullpen we felt confident that we could get back in the game.”
After allowing another home run in the fifth inning, this time by Brandon Lewis, the Captains pitching staff refocused, not allowing another run until the ninth inning.
The Captains cut into the lead starting in the sixth inning, after a wild pitch brought Lavastida home to make it a 4-2 game. In the seventh inning, a groundout by Will Brennan saw Aaron Brancho home and a sacrifice fly by Bryan Rocchio was deep enough to see Farhart tie the game.
Despite having swung momentum into their favor, the Loons found the gap in the infield to bring a runner home to retake the lead.
“The swinging momentum just gave us that extra boost of energy,” said Lavastida.
“We're never out, and with us being able to tie the game, we knew that we were back in this and it gave us that extra little bit of energy after trailing in this one from the jump.”
Down to their final out, Cody Farhat came to the plate and once again swung things in the Captains favor with a home run to tie the game at 5-5.
“You only feel as much pressure as you put on yourself,” said Farhat. “In that moment I wasn't trying to do to much, just to try and give us at least a base runner for the time. I was looking for the slider, and he happened to throw it right at the perfect time for me”
After a scoreless 10th by both teams, Great Lakes plated three runs to put the game out of reach for the 8-5 final score.
The Captains and Loons tangle again on July 23. Both Great Lakes Clayton Beeter (0-4, 4.91 ERA) and Lake County's Daniel Espino (0-1, 4.50) are looking to get their first wins of the season with first pitch at 7 p.m.