Loons Offense Posts Season-High 14 hits in 9-6 Victory

MIDLAND, Mich. – The Great Lakes Loons (17-10) supplied a 14-hit performance out lasting the Quad Cities River Bandits (10-16), 9-6 on a 55-degree cloudy Sunday at Dow Diamond. Great Lakes has sole possession of first in the Midwest League East Division and have won 10 of their last 12 games.

Yeiner Fernandez had the first four-hit game by a Loon this season. The 20-year-old drove home four runs, including a sixth-inning two-run homer.

Quad Cities starter Tyson Guerrero struggled from the start, with Great Lakes' first three batters all getting hits.

Yeiner Fernandez drove in Austin Gauthier, both men with a single in the frame. The top of the order pushed G out of the game in the second, Gauthier delivered an RBI triple, his first triple of the season. He was plated by Fernandez’s second RBI single, and fourth in a row dating back to yesterday’s game.

Ben Casparius, the starter for the Loons rebounded tremendously well after allowing a leadoff homer to Jack Pineda. The right-hander retired the next eight in a row.

Pineda’s second at-bat, he sliced a double and was brought across by Javier Vaz. Casparius struck out four through the first two and then K’ed five through the next three. Despite allowing runners to reach scoring position in the fourth and fifth innings, a ninth strikeout finished the fifth. Casparius now has the most strikeouts in a game for a Loons starter with nine.

Entering the sixth, Great Lakes led 4-2 after a scoreless half-inning from Michael Hobbs. They would put together five runs in a four-hit inning. Luis Barroso fought through a scoreless fifth but couldn’t complete four innings and make it out of the sixth.

Dalton Rushing walked for the third time of the day and was brought across by Yeiner Fernandez’s two-run shot. A Taylor Young single was next, followed by an Ismael Alcantara infield single to short that was thrown into foul territory, and Young hustling would score. Alcantara and Jake Vogel were later plated by a Yunior Garcia two-run double.

The River Bandits didn’t roll over, producing four runs in the top of the seventh. Stringing together four singles and two walks against Juan Morillo, who recorded just one out. Jack Dreyer retired the five batters he faced in total, including the final two of the seventh, to strand two runners in scoring position. The game was 9-6 Loons after seven.

Jake Pilarski commanded the ninth and completed his ninth save, extending his minor league baseball lead. The right-hander has permitted just one run through 12.2 innings in 12 appearances.

After an off-day, the Loons travel to Eastlake, OH, to start a six-game series with the Lake County Captains on Tuesday, May 9th. The first pitch is at 6:05 p.m.

The Great Lakes Loons have been the Single-A partner of the Los Angeles Dodgers since the team’s inception in 2007. Dow Diamond serves as the team’s home and also houses the Michigan Baseball Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit public charity, and ESPN 100.9-FM. For tickets or information about the Loons, call 989-837-BALL or visit Loons.com.