Lake County Sentinel
Captains outlast Dragons 8-4
BY TIM SHIRER
CAPTAINS BEAT WRITER
(EASTLAKE, OH) – The Lake County Captains got back on track Thursday as they swept the Dayton Dragons in a double header to improve to 13-14, good enough for fourth place 3.5 games out of first in the High-A Central Eastern Division. On Friday night Will Brennan and the Captains continued to feast on Dayton pitching, pounding the Dragons 8-4.
The Captains got on the board first in the third inning when who else but Brennan scorched a ball to centerfield for a double driving home Jonathan Englemann and Austen Wade both who reached when they were walked by Dayton starting pitcher Noah Davis. With Brayan Rocchio at the plate Brennan was caught stealing at third base to end the inning with the Captains on top 2-0.
Meanwhile Lake County starter Tanner Burns was pitching a shutout through six innings. Burns allowed only four base hits and struck out six hitters. Burns through on 68 pitches in his six innings, 50 of which were strikes.
Lake County put a third run on the board in the bottom of the sixth inning when Rocchio led of the inning on the first pitch and put it over the right center field fence. The long ball was Rocchio’s third of the season giving the Captains the 3-0 advantage.
The Captains added on in the seventh inning with out in the inning and catcher Mike Amditis belted his first home run of the season and extended the Lake County lead to 4-0.
The offense continued to pile on in the eighth inning as they added four more runs more runs on six singles. Three of the singles came when the Captains knocked around Dayton reliever Carson Spiers. Spiers did not make it out of the inning and was replaced by Matt Gill who did not do much better as he allowed three singles one of them by Brennan. When the inning finally ended the Captains led 8-0.
The night for Drennan continued his hot streak. In the first four games of the homestand and series he’s hitting .352 (6 for 17) with two doubles, two home runs, four runs scored and 10 RBI. For the season the Captains centerfielder is now hitting .330.
The Dragons struck for four runs in the ninth inning on four hits including two doubles and a triple off Captains reliever Kevin Kelly.
Burns picked up his first win of the season for Lake County. With the victory the righthander improves to 1-2 with a 3.04 ERA. Davis took the loss for the Dragons and falls to 0-4 with a 4.15 ERA.
The Captains and Dragons will play game five of the six game series on Saturday Night at 7:00 p.m. Righthander Graham Ashcraft will take the hill for the Dragons. Ashcraft is 2-1 with a 4.35 ERA. The Captains will send Kevin Coulter to the mound. Coulter a righthander is 2-0 with a 6.91 ERA..
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POSTED 06/04/2021 22:21
Lake County Captains Pitcher Tanner Burns. Photo by Tim Shirer
