Whitecaps hold off Lake County for another marathon win
Fri, Jul 30, 2010
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EASTLAKE, OH Another night, another marathon at Classic Park.
After playing nearly four hours in a 16-14 slugfest on Wednesday night, the West Michigan Whitecaps outlasted the Lake County Captains for a 3-1, 12-inning win after three hours and 55 minutes on Thursday night.
West Michigan (11-21, 37-64) got seven shutout innings from the bullpen while five hurlers combined to hold Lake County (14-18, 58-43) to just one run on seven hits. The Whitecaps won consecutive games for the first time since July 9-10 and have a chance to earn their first series sweep of the season on Friday.
West Michigan rallied with the game tied at 1-1 in the 12th. It started with a one-out hit by Jeff Rowland, who shrugged off an 0-for-5 night and dumped a flare-single into left. Michael Rockett followed with his third hit of the evening, a line-drive single to left-center that advanced Rowland to third base. After a pitching change, Corey Jones delivered the tie-breaking blow with a sacrifice fly and Wade Gaynor added a run-scoring single as the Whitecaps seized a 3-1 advantage. In the bottom of the frame, Shawn Teufel (1-1) worked around a leadoff walk by inducing a double play ball and a lineout to cap his two scoreless innings and clinch the victory.