Loons Split Doubleheader with Lugnuts

Midland, Mich.– The Great Lakes Loons (48-23) and Lansing Lugnuts (33-38) each took a game in the Loons' first home doubleheader of the season. Great Lakes won game one, 4-3, Lansing was victorious in game two 7-5 on an 88-degree partly cloudy Friday night at Dow Diamond.

In game one the Lugnuts and Loons scored their first runs off errors. Lansing’s Max Muncy scored after a Daniel Susac groundball misplayed at second in the first inning. Taylor Young advanced on an error at third base. Chris Alleyne's double set up a Max Hewitt sacrifice fly to left field in the second inning.

Maddux Bruns struck out four across four innings, allowing just three baserunners in his final three innings.

The Lugnuts took the lead in the sixth. Jack Dreyer worked a 1-2-3 fifth but walked Jack Winkler to begin the sixth. Winkler stole second, moved to third base on a single, and advanced home on a 4-6-3 double play.

In the bottom of the sixth, the Loons tallied three runs. Luis Diaz, doubled roping a ball 107 mph to right center field. Chris Newell and Griffin Lockwood-Powell both walked on eight pitches. With the bases loaded and one out, Taylor Young sliced a 1-1 pitch up the third base line, to clear the bases.

Michael Hobbs closed the sixth inning and worked out of a jam in the seventh. Eurbiel Angeles singled, and then Danny Bautista Jr. belted a double off the center field fence. The Lugnuts had the potential tying run on second with no outs. Hobbs came back with a strikeout, including a Clark Elliot RBI groundout to second base, and Max Muncy struck out on three pitches to end the game.

In game two, Great Lakes played four of their five runs in the bottom of the third. Dalton Rushing doubled home Jake Vogel to open the scoring. Rushing was plated by Luis Diaz, a 383-foot longball to deep right field. Diaz’s fourth homer in 49 games played. The fourth run was a Chris Alleyne triple, that brought across Griffin Lockwood-Powell who reached on a double.

Lansing responded with a seven-run fifth inning. The most runs allowed in an inning by the Loons. Orlando Ortiz contained Lansing to two baserunners through his first four innings. The fifth was a different story.

The inning began with an error at shortstop and a single, with a walk to load the bases. Max Muncy then walked to make it 4-1. Christian Suarez then entered allowing two two-run singles, one from Caedan Trenkle, the other from Daniel Susac, the Nuts led 5-4.

Two more runs came off a play with two errors. Junior Perez with Susac on first singled to center field. The ball went through the legs of Jake Vogel in center. When it was thrown into Max Hewitt, Perez rounded third but slipped. Hewitt realized late and did not get it home in time.

Great Lakes down 7-4, made it a two-run game with a Taylor Young sacrifice fly to right field. Young’s sixth RBI in three games played in the series. The Loons had the potential tying run at the plate in both the sixth and seventh inning, but the final six outs were all strikeouts. Five punchouts from Lansing’s Tyler Baum.

Saturday is Marvel Super Hero™ Night with an appearance from Captain America presented by Michigan Army National Guard, and postgame will see the grandest Fireworks Loontacular in Loon's history presented by Farm Bureau Insurance of Michigan.

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.