Lake County Sentinel
Pantoja leads Captains to doubleheader sweep over Hot Rods
BY TIM SHIRER
CAPTAINS BEAT WRITER
The Lake County Captains and Bowling Green Hot Rods played two on Saturday Night at Classic Park. Game One was a makeup of Friday's night's game which was postponed due to rain. The doubleheader turned out to be double the fun for the Captains and the fans in attendance as Lake County swept the twin bill 3-2 and 11-4.
GAME ONE
The Hot Rods got on the board first in the top of the first inning with one run off Captains Starter Tanner Tully. The Captains returned the favor in the bottom of the first inning off Bowling Green starter Kenny Rosenberg. The Captains run came courtesy of a solo home run off the bat of Li-Jen Chu, tying the game 1-1. The homer by Chu was his ninth of the season.
The Captains took the lead in the bottom of the second inning when Mitch Longo led off the inning with a single, then stole second. After Conner Capel flew out, Luke Wakamatsu belted a double to left field and Longo scored the go ahead run, giving the Captains a 2-1 lead.
The Hot Rods tied the game in the top of the fourth inning with a single run, which scored by way of an error, tying the game 2-2.
The Captains finally took the lead in the fifth inning on a solo home run by Jose Medina. The home run was Medina’s seventh and it gave Lake County a 3-2 lead which ended up being the final score.
Tully picked up the win for Lake County. Tully pitched complete game, seven innings, allowing six hits on two runs, one earned. He issued one base on balls and struck out three Hot Rods. With the win Tully improves to 4-5 with a 3.17 ERA. Rosenberg took the loss for the Hot Rods. With the loss Roseberg falls to 2-6 with a 5.31 ERA.
GAME TWO
The second game was a bit different than the first as the Captains jumped on the Hot Rods early and often. With Bowling Green taking a 1-0 lead in the first inning off Captains starter Henry Martinez. Martinez gave up two singles in the inning and aided the Hot Rods cause by moving a runner along on a balk. From that point on it was all Captains.
The Captains scored eight unanswered runs after the top of the first. The first three runs came in the bottom of the first when with one out Miguel Eladio smacked a solo homer to tie the game. The home run by Eladio was his sixth of the season. The Captains tacked on two more runs in the inning to lead 3-1 after one inning.
The big inning for Lake County came in the third when Alexis Pantoja belted a grand slam over the right center field fence to put the Captains on top 8-1. The home run by Pantoja was not only his first of the season, but the first home run of his four-year professional career, 661 at-bats. An ecstatic Pantoja said after the game that it was a dream come true. What made it even more special is that his girlfriend Nicole Molina and her mother Millie were in attendance. It was the first time his girlfriend had ever seen him play. Pantoja was doused in shaving cream in the Captains locker room following the game. It is an understatement to say this will be a night Pantoja will never forget.
The Captains went on to win the game 11-4.
The Captains are now tied for second place in the Midwest League Eastern Division with a second half record of 7-3. Since June 11, when Lake County was humiliated in a doubleheader at Classic Park with Bowling Green where they were outscored 25-10 they have a record of 12-5.
The Captains and Hot Rods will play game three of the four game series on Sunday afternoon at 4:00 p.m..
tshirer@lakecountysentinel.com or follow Tim on Twitter @IndiansTim Check out our IndiansNation fan Page
POSTED 07/02/2017 00:12
Captains second baseman Alexis Pantoja. Photo by Greg Goth
