Lake County Sentinel
Captains pounded by TinCaps 14-4
BY ANDREW LUFTGLASS
CAPTAINS MEDIA RELATIONS
(FORT WAYNE, IN) - The Lake County Captains could not put out a scalding Fort Wayne TinCaps offense and fell in the final game of their season-opening series. Fort Wayne overcame an early 4-0 deficit and handed the Captains a 14-4 defeat on Sunday at Parkview Field.
Lake County jumped in front early with three runs in the first inning. Francisco Mejia put the first run on the board with an RBI single. Yonathan Mendoza then drove home a run with a groundout and Connor Marabell roped a double high off the left field wall that scored the third tally of the inning.
The Captains tacked on a run in the second on a sacrifice fly by Sam Haggerty, but Fort Wayne took over after that. The TinCaps’ pitching staff did not give up another run the rest of the way and Fort Wayne’s offense scored 14 runs over five innings.
Brad Zunica was at the center of the offensive outburst for the TinCaps. In the bottom of the second, Zunica started the scoring for Fort Wayne by hitting a home run for the second day in a row. Zunica launched a two-run homer over the left field wall in the bottom of the second to cut the Captains’ lead to 4-2. The following inning, Fort Wayne exploded for three runs to take the lead. After Austin Allen tied the game with a two-run single, Zunica gave the TinCaps a 5-4 lead with an run-scoring single of his own.
Fort Wayne began to run away with the game in the fourth. The TinCaps batted around against Captains starter Matt Esparza and reliever Christian Meister. Fort Wayne sent 10 men to the plate in the inning and scored six runs on five hits to take an 11-4 lead. Luis Tejada contributed the biggest blow with an RBI triple and Ruddy Giron contributed an RBI double. The TinCaps added three unearned runs in the fifth and sixth inning to put away Lake County for good.
Allen posted an outstanding season-opening series and capped it with another strong performance with the plate on Sunday. Allen went 3-for-4 in the series finale with a double, two RBI and three runs scored. Over the first four games of the season, Allen is 11-for-14 with a home run, three doubles, five RBI and six runs scored.
Giron and Zunica also turned in impressive offensive performances. Giron finished the game 4-for-6 with a pair of doubles, two RBI and three runs scored. Zunica fell a triple shy of the cycle, scored three runs and drove in three.
Fort Wayne reliever Taylor Cox picked up the win. Cox (1-0), a left-hander, went 2.1 innings and did not allow a run on three hits. The southpaw struck out two Captains. Esparza (0-1) gave up nine runs over 3.1 innings and took the loss. The Captains starter gave up 11 hits and struck out five.
Lake County heads to West Michigan to start a three-game series against the Whitecaps on Monday night. RHP Shao-Ching Chiang is due to pitch for the Captains against RHP Beau Burrows of West Michigan. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m..
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POSTED 04/10/2016 23:47
