Lake County on the Right Course

Aaron Pinto2

Despite losing the finale of a three game series to the Bowling Green Hot Rods, the Lake County Captains are first place residents in the Eastern Division of the Midwest League. Currently they are tied with the Fort Wayne TinCaps both having a 8-5 record.

The Captains won the last game of a 4 game series vs Bowling Green, split with the Dayton Dragons (1-1) and lost 2 out of 3 when they went to visit Bowling Green. They start a 6 game homestand starting April 18 with 3 games vs the South Bend Cubs followed by 3 against the Dragons again.

Last Thursday, April 11 they beat the Dragons 2-1 and  were once again lead by Raymond Burgos who picked up his second win of the season with a save by Thomas Ponticelli. Burgos pitched 5 1/3 innings giving up 1 ER striking out 4 and walking just 1. Ponticelli finished with 3 and 2/3 innings of one hit ball while striking out 5.

The Captains had just 6 hits but made them count with Jose Fermin getting 2 of them and scoring both of their runs. Josh Rolette and Mitch Reeves had the RBI’s for Lake County.

Lake County visited Dayton for two games and dropped the opener 10-3 but took the next game 6-2.  Juan Mota struggled in five innings giving up 7 hits and 3 walks while surrendering 5 ER’s in the first game.  Jake Miednik didn’t fare much better in his two innings of work giving up 3 ER’s.  Will Benson went 2-4 with an RBI to lead the Captains.  In the second game of the series, Shane McCarthy turned in a fine performance in a 6-2 Captains victory.  McCarthy pitched 5 innings of 2 hit ball, giving up 2 unearned runs and striking out 9.  Skylar Arias and Dakody Clemmer finished up with Clemmer getting his first save of the season.  Tyler Freeman went 3-3 with 2 RBI and was supported by Marcos Gonzalez who had a 2 run HR.

On Income Tax Day, April 15, Lake County paid a visit to Bowling Green for three games against the Hot Rods.  The home team pounded Luis Oviedo for six runs in the first inning with Oviedo lasting just 2/3 of an inning before giving way to Zach Draper.  Draper looked much better giving up just one run in 3 1/3 innings however the damage was done.  Chris Betts hit a 2 run homer for Bowling Green in the first inning which was the first HR given up by Lake County this season.    Jose Fermin had two hits for the Captains and Will Benson chipped in 2 RBI’s in a losing cause.

Lake County evened the series the next day with a 4-2 win lead again by Fermin’s 3 hits and 2 runs scored.  Outfield Ruben Cardenas hit his second HR of the season, a 2 run blast in the 3rd inning.  The Captains received good pitching from Raymond Burgos who was not as sharp as he has been in his previous couple of starts but still only gave up 2 ER’s with 5 strikeouts.  Aaron Pinto picked up his second win (2-0) of the year followed by clean outings from Manuel Alvarez and a second save of the season from Dakody Clemmer.

Juan Mota was roughed up in the finale of the series giving up 6 ER’s in 5 innings in the Captains’ 10-4 loss.  Thomas Ponticelli didn’t do much better as he pitched the final 3 innings allowing 4 runs and 7 hits.  Will Benson was once again a bright spot for Lake County going 2-3 with 2 RBI’s. Benson also stole his 4th base of the young campaign.  Mitch Reeves hit a solo HR in the ninth for the Captains.

The Captains are ranked 10th in ERA in the 16 team Midwest League with a 3.62 mark.  However, they are lead by 2 starters, Raymond Burgos and Shane McCarthy who’s ERA’s are 1.84 and 1.80 respectfully.  McCarthy also has an outstanding 1.00 WHIP to his credit.  Aaron Pinto in a relief role has picked up 2 victories in 4 appearances.  He has not given up an earned run and has a WHIP of 0.60.  In addition in 8 1/3 innings, Pinto has struck out 14 batters while only allowing 2 walks.

Lake County hopes that the strong pitching continues as their hitters haven’t hit their stride yet.  Their batting average .219 ranks near the bottom although they have scored 62 runs in 13 games which puts them 5th compared to the competition.

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