Loons Win Fifth in a Row, Match Season-Best

Peoria, Ill. – The Great Lakes Loons (30-15) took care of the Peoria Chiefs (21-24) 6-2, for a fifth straight game on a sunny Sunday night at Dozer Park. The Loons are the first team in High-A to win 30 games.

Great Lakes homered twice, and their pitching forced three double-plays and struck out 10 batters.

Damon Keith belted his second three-run first-inning home run of the series. Keith now has eight overall, five in the last 12 games, the eight is tied for first with Gavin Cross of the Quad Cities River Bandits. Austin Gauthier and Alex Freeland scored, both reaching on singles. Freeland posted 11 hits in the six-game series.

Maddux Bruns, the starter for the Loons, worked his second four-inning shutout of the week. Despite allowing three men to reach scoring position, the 20-year-old kept the Chiefs off the board and struck out six.

Peoria posted eight of their 11 hits off Orlando Ortiz, who managed to just keep them to two hits. In the bottom of the fifth, three Chiefs in a row singled. Thomas Francisco, Ramon Mendoza, and Tyler Reichenborn all mustered a base knock. The right-hander buckled down and forced a 5-4-3 double play of Darlin Moquete, a run did come across.

Francisco and Mendoza singled back-to-back again in the seventh, Ortiz then got a fielder’s choice to get the lead runner and a strikeout of Moquete, his third of the game.

In the fifth and sixth, Great Lakes produced three runs. Taylor Young doubled, his second hit of the game, and Frank Rodriguez was hit by a pitch. Austin Gauthier followed with a two-run double to right-center field. Trent Baker finished five innings, but all five runs were earned.

Griffin Lockwood-Powell, in the sixth, smacked a ball off Leonardo Tavares. Lockwood-Powell now has five home runs in 30 games played.

The eighth was the best opportunity for the Chiefs to cut the deficit. Ortiz was ousted after allowing two singles and a hit-by-pitch. Aldry Acosta then entered with the bases loaded and no outs. He got a fielder’s choice, to take away a runner, with the Chief on third plated. Acosta then enforced a 6-4-3 double play, the right-hander’s team-leading ninth of the year.

Juan Morillo finished Peoria 1-2-3 in the bottom of the ninth. Morillo’s last four appearances have been four scoreless innings.

After a league-wide off-day Monday, the Loons begin the second part of their 12-game road trip. A six-game series at ABC Supply Stadium facing the Beloit Sky Carp, starting Tuesday, May 30th.

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.