Bowling Green Hot Rods Swept By Lake County Captains In Doubleheader

[Via email from Tom Gauthier, the Hot Rods Director of Broadcast/Media Relations.]

Eastlake, OH – With a chance to win their third straight series, Shane Dyer threw a complete game in the opener of a doubleheader with the Lake County Captains. Unfortunately, Dyer allowed three early runs and the Hot Rods bats were shutdown in a 3-1 loss. The Captains then took a 6-1 decision in the second game, sweeping the doubleheader to take the series 2-1. The loss leaves the Hot Rods with a 3-3 road trip record heading back to Bowling Green for a four-game home stand with the Lansing Lugnuts beginning Thursday night.

In the first game, the Captains struck first by scoring three runs in the first inning against Dyer, all with two outs. Bo Greenwell started the rally with a single to center, followed by a single to right field from Jeremie Tice. With runners at first and second, Roberto Perez doubled down the right field line to score Greenwell and give the Captains a 1-0 lead. Chun Chen came up next and smoked a two-run triple into the left-center field gap to plate two more runs and give the Captains a 3-0 margin.

Dyer settled down from there, retiring seven straight before putting two runners on in the fourth. He got out of that jam unscathed, eventually pitching six full innings for his second complete game of the season. He allowed three runs on seven hits, striking out four, but falling to 2-3 on the season.

Bowling Green had plenty of early chances against Lake County starter Danny Salazar. They had two runners on with one out in the first, third, and fourth innings but couldn’t push the run across. Salazar left midway through the fourth having given up two hits and three walks, but without yielding a run.

The Hot Rods did get a run with two outs in the top of the fifth. Chris Murrill was hit by a pitch by reliever Matt Packer. Two batters later he took second on a wild pitch and then scored on a single to left field by Tyler Bortnick, capping the scoring at 3-1.

In the second game Lake County struck first again facing Alex Koronis, who was making his first professional start. With two outs in the first inning, Koronis allowed a soft flare single into center field to Roberto Perez, scoring Casey Frawley to give the Captains a 1-0 lead.

Bowling Green would answer right back in the second, as Ryan Wiegand belted a first pitch fast ball over the right field wall to tie the game at 1-1. The blast was Wiegand’s second home of the season, bumping him into the team lead with his 13th RBI of the season.

From there, the Hot Rods wouldn’t generate much more offense against Popham (3-0). The righty worked five innings allowing one run on four hits. He struck out seven, walked one, and held the Hot Rods hitless in four at-bats with runners in scoring position.

The Captains scored the winning runs against Koronis (L; 2-2) in the bottom of the third. The first two men of the inning reached before Jeremie Tice doubled into the left field corner with one out, driving in both runners for a 3-1 lead. An inning later, facing Jairo De La Rosa, the Captains put the first two men on again before Casey Frawley tagged his first home run of the season into the left field bleachers, breaking the game open for a 6-1 Captains lead.

Antwonie Hubbard pitched the final two frames for Lake County, allowing one hit over two shutout innings. Jake Sullivan matched Hubbard with two shutout innings for the Hot Rods, allowing just one hit.

The team returns home to open a four-game set with the Lansing Lugnuts (Toronto Blue Jays) on Thursday at 7:05 PM. Thursday’s promotions include Thirsty Thursday presented by Beaver 96.7 FM and All Hit WUHU 107 and Hootiepalooza Night presented by WNKY. Hootiepalooza celebrates the birthday of Darius Rucker, country music star and lead singer of Hootie and the Blowfish, and features a charity raffle for an acoustic guitar autographed by Rucker. For tickets, visit www.bghotrods.com or call 270.901.2121.

RHP Jason McEachern (1-4, 5.65) gets the ball against Lansing RHP Chad Jenkins (2-2, 3.68). First pitch is at 7:05 PM. You can follow the game with Tom Gauthier and Hank Fuerst beginning at 6:50 PM on 1340 AM WBGN and www.bghotrods.com.