Bazzana's bat captains Lake County's sweep to Midwest Finals

First pitch, first playoff homer for the 2024 No. 1 pick.

Travis Bazzana was no stranger to big moments in his decorated college career, and he proved to be up to that challenge again on Thursday, when he led High-A Lake County into the Midwest League Championship Series.

MLB's No. 11 prospect homered and later drove in the go-ahead run in the Captains’ 5-4 victory over Dayton for a sweep of their semifinal at Classic Park.

Lake County squeaked by the Dragons, 4-3, in Game 1 on Tuesday, and came up with a three-run sixth-inning rally to waltz off with the victory in Game 2 of the best-of-3 series.

Bazzana was in the middle of it all. With the Captains down in the fifth, 4-1, the Guardians' top prospect crushed a solo homer off right-hander Brian Edgington (Reds), clearing the tall warehouse looming beyond the right-field wall. His first playoff dinger came on a first-pitch fastball, and Bazzana didn’t miss it.

An inning later, the 22-year-old Australian capped Lake County’s three-run sixth by punching a two-out go-ahead single to the opposite field to drive in Maick Collado with the decisive run.

The Captains will face the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (Brewers) in the best-of-3 Finals, which will begin Sunday in Wisconsin.

It hasn’t been a seamless transition into pro ball for Bazzana, who was ranked No. 1 coming into the Draft. Cleveland took him first overall and signed the Australian infielder for $8,950,000. Though he reached base at a strong clip, Bazzana hit just .238 with three homers and 12 RBIs through his first 27 games for Lake County. Strikeouts were an issue early, with 31 in his first 101 at-bats.

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But his ability to impact the baseball has long been apparent. Bazzana launched a school-record 28 homers this spring at Oregon State, and he’s tagged four across his first 29 professional games at High-A. Thursday’s long ball was a moonshot that disappeared into the misty Ohio night. Eleven of his first 26 hits as a pro have gone for extra bases.