Kollar, TinCaps collar Lugs, 5-3

FORT WAYNE, Ind. – *A night after his teammates allowed 11 runs on 16 hits, Jared Kollar pitched five shutout innings to lead the Fort Wayne TinCaps (16-25) to a 5-3 win over the Lansing Lugnuts (20-21) on Wednesday night at Parkview Field.
The Lugnuts had set single game season highs in an 11-4 series-opening rout of the TinCaps, but Kollar, an undrafted free agent from Rutgers, made sure that none of the same happened in the series’ second game. He scattered three hits – a *Daniel Susac double in the second inning, a Jonny Butler double in the third inning and a Susac single in the fourth inning – while striking out three in keeping the Nuts’ bats quiet.

Trailing 4-0, Max Muncy put the Lugnuts on the board with a successful squeeze in the sixth against Fort Wayne reliever Raul Brito.

After a Jakob Marsee solo home run restored the Fort Wayne lead to four, the Nuts rallied against Adam Smith in the ninth. Susac led off with a walk and Clark Elliott singled. A Jack Winkler comebacker moved both runners up 90 feet and an Euribiel Ángeles sacrifice fly scored Susac to bring Lansing within 5-2. Danny Bautista, Jr. singled up the middle on the very next pitch, plating Elliott and extending his team-high hitting streak to 10 games.

But with the potential tying run brought to the plate, Smith whiffed Brayan Buelvas to end the game.

Lansing starter Brady Basso allowed one run on two hits in three innings in the loss, striking out three.

Basso was followed to the hill by Mitch Myers, who gave up singles to the first four batters he faced in the fourth inning; three of them ended up scoring. Those were the only runs Myers surrendered in 3 1/3 innings. Mac Lardner pitched the final 1 2/3, allowing the home run to Marsee.

Coming off a seven-inning, 10-strikeout marvel in his Lugnuts debut last week, right-hander Jake Garland gets the ball for the Nuts on Thursday at 7:05 p.m., opposed by TinCaps prospect right-hander Adam Mazur.

The Lugnuts’ trip to Fort Wayne runs through Sunday, with a homestand against the Cedar Rapids Kernels arriving next week, May 30-June 4. Tickets are available via lansinglugnuts.com or call (517) 485-4500.

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