Cubs Fall in Late Night Extras 6-4

South Bend, IN - For the second straight night, the Great Lakes Loons toppled the South Bend Cubs in extra innings, this time on Thursday night by a final score of 6-4 at Four Winds Field. The 12-inning battle featured South Bend having the winning run on base, but the Loons coming away with the victory thanks to a 12th inning home run by Sean McLain.

It was a comeback effort by the Cubs to get back into the game, as Great Lakes plated runs in both the 1st and 2nd innings off of starter Will Sanders. However, Sanders battled back to work a 1-2-3 inning in the 3rd, and to hang another zero in the 4th. Sanders left with one out in the 5th with the bases loaded, but Chase Watkins settled things down to limit the damage in that inning to only a run.

Great Lakes expanded the lead to 4-0 in the 6th, but the Cubs began their comeback effort in the late frames.

The bottom of the 8th featured an RBI single by Ezequiel Pagan to get the Cubs on the board, and then a big bottom of the 9th got it tied. Chicago Cubs 1st-round pick Cam Smith tripled home a pair of tallies, and had another multi-hit game; His third straight with the South Bend Cubs since making his High-A debut.

To tie things up, Pagan came up with another base knock to left, making it 4-4.

In extra innings, Angel Gonzalez worked another wondrous appearance, and hung two big zeroes on the scoreboard just as he did on Sunday. South Bend had multiple opportunities to try and win it, but the Loons bullpen was able to fight back.

In the 12th, McClain’s home run separated things for the last time, shuffling things to a 6-4 game. Great Lakes has now won the first three games of this series.

Next up, South Bend will get the opportunity to get in the ‘W’ column for the first time this week on Friday night when the two teams clash again at 7:05 PM. Right-hander Nick Dean gets the ball for the Cubs.