Captains comeback to stun Dragons 10-9

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Lake County Sentinel

Captains comeback to stun Dragons 10-9

BY TIM SHIRER

CAPTAINS BEAT WRITER

(EASTLAKE, OH) - The Lake County Captains returned home on Tuesday night for a quick three game series against the Dayton Dragons. The Captains were coming off a tough 1-5 road trip and were hoping to right the ship. Things got off to a good start as the Captains notched a walk off win beating the Dragons 10-9 and sending the 1,254 in attendance at Classic Park home happy.

The Captains got on the board first with three runs in the first inning off Great Lakes starter Andrew Jordan. Jordan walked the first two Captains of the game Tyler Friis and Nolan Jones. Ernie Clement then singled to center field and Friis scored, Jones was thrown out at third base and Clement advanced to second on the throw. Oscar Gonzalez then singled and Clement moved to third base. Oscar Gonzalez was then called on runner interference. Ulysses Cantu then drew a base on balls to put men on first and third. Will Benson then reached on an error by Dayton first baseman Montrell Marshall and Clement scored the Captains second run. Mike Rivera, who was just activated of the disabled list reached on an error by the Dayton shortstop Jose Garcia and Cantu crossed the plate with the Captains third run of the inning giving them a 3-0 lead.

The Dragons tied it up in the third inning off Captains starter Juan Hillman. The inning consisted of three hits, two singles, a double and Captains error to aid the Dragons in tying the game.

Dayton temporarily took a 4-3 lead in the top of the fourth inning with a single run.

The Captains came back with two runs in the bottom of the fourth to regain the lead at 5-4. That lead was also temporary.

The wheels completely fell off in the top of the fifth inning as the Captains reliever Skylar Arias entered the game and understating the obvious he did not have it as he gave up four runs, all earned on three base on balls and a double. Arias's cause was not helped much by the disastrous outing by Jordan Scheftz who uncorked three consecutive wild pitches which allowed three runs to score and the scoring in the inning was complete. When the dust had cleared from one of the worst innings in Captains history the Dragons led 9-5.

The Captains pulled closer in the eighth inning with two runs when Jose Vincente hit a two-run home run to cut the Dayton lead to 9-7.

Lake County rallied in the ninth inning for three runs and capture the comeback win. The inning began with Gonzalez being struck out by Dayton closer John Ghyzel. The Dayton closer then issued base on balls to the next three Captains batters (Jose Medina, Will Benson and Mike Rivera). At that point Dayton manager Luis Bolivar replaced Ghyzel with Cory Thompson. Thompson came in and threw gasoline on the fire as he tossed a wild pitch and Medina scored to close the gap to 9-8. After he retired Vincente on foul pop, he gave up a single to Todd Isaaaacs to left field and Benson and Rivera scored to give the Captains the 10-9 win.

Jonathan Teaney picked up the win for Lake County. Teaney came into the game in relief and pitched a scoreless ninth inning retiring all three batters he faced including striking out two. With the win Teaney improves to 1-3 with a 10.45 ERA. Ghyzel took the loss for Dayton. With the loss Ghyzel falls to 2-3 with a 2.66 ERA.

The Captains and Dragons will play game two of the series on Wednesday Night at 7:00 p.m. Righthander Adrian Rodriguez will be on the mound for the Dragons. Rodriguez is 3-1 with a 4.91 ERA. Gregori Vasquez will take the mound for Lake County. "Vasky" is 1-2 with a 3.57 ERA.