Lugnuts hammer Captains, capture series

EASTLAKE, Ohio – William Simoneit and Lester Madden, Jr. each homered amid three-hit performance, and the Lansing Lugnuts (41-43) bombarded the Lake County Captains’ (44-40) bullpen on their way to a 12-4 rout on Sunday afternoon at Classic Park.

The result gave the Lugnuts four wins in six games against the second-place Captains, the Nuts’ second series victory of 2021, joining a series win at first-place Great Lakes in July.

The Nuts scored two runs in the first inning, one in the second and one in the third – on Madden, Jr.’s second home run of the year – in taking a quick 4-0 lead against Lake County starter Mason Hickman, only to see the Captains tie the game in a four-batter flurry against Lansing starter Jack Cushing leading off the bottom of the third: Julian Escobedo tripled, José Tena doubled, and George Valera and Micah Pries each homered.

But Lansing responded in the fourth inning, taking the lead for good at 5-4 on a Cobie Vance sacrifice fly. Lake County had no answer for this, or the seven subsequent runs to come once Hickman departed the game.

In the seventh inning, Simoneit slugged his sixth homer of the year off Nathan Ocker, a solo shot to right that pushed the Lugnuts into a 6-4 lead.

In the eighth, Marcos Brito smacked a two-out, two-run single up the middle against Jared Janczak for an 8-4 lead.

And in the ninth, Madden, Jr., keyed a four-run rally against Jerson Ramírez with a two-run triple, coming home himself on a Cooper Uhl RBI single to close out the scoring.

The offensive surge gave Cushing (5 IP, 8 hits, 4 runs, 2 walks, 5 strikeouts) his sixth win of the season, tying for most in the High-A Central, in just his seventh appearance and sixth start with the Lugnuts. Lansing has won all seven of the games in which he has pitched.

The Nuts’ bullpen was rock solid. Leudeny Pineda pitched the sixth, Dalton Sawyer the seventh, Garrett Acton the eighth and Charles Hall the ninth, combining to allow one hit and one walk. Pineda, Sawyer and Acton each struck out two batters.

Among the hitters, it’s worth noting Brito, who opened in a 1-for-43 slump with the Lugnuts after arriving from Low-A Stockton, but went 4-for-12 in the final three games of this series, finishing with a 2-for-5, 2-RBI showing.

The Nuts enjoy on an off day on Monday before welcoming the Dayton Dragons from August 10-15 in a six-game series in Michigan’s state capital. To purchase tickets, visit lansinglugnuts.com or call (517) 485-4500.

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