Lugnuts erupt in 8th to double up Loons, 10-5
LANSING, Mich. – Austin Beck broke an eighth-inning tie with an RBI double, Shane Selman followed with a two-run homer, and the Lansing Lugnuts (10-9) used a huge eighth inning to beat the Great Lakes Loons (8-11), 10-5, in front of a roaring crowd on Tuesday night at Jackson® Field™.
LANSING, Mich. – Austin Beck broke an eighth-inning tie with an RBI double, Shane Selman followed with a two-run homer, and the Lansing Lugnuts (10-9) used a huge eighth inning to beat the Great Lakes Loons (8-11), 10-5, in front of a roaring crowd on Tuesday night at Jackson® Field™.
It was the first of 12 home games in 13 days for the Lugnuts – and it looked a lot like the Nuts’ prior four games at Fort Wayne, a stretch in which the offense totaled 34 runs.
The Lugnuts at one point trailed the Loons, 3-0.
— Lansing Lugnuts (@LansingLugnuts) May 26, 2021
They're not trailing anymore, thanks to @maxschuemann pic.twitter.com/Iuw207wkFF
Loons catcher Ryan January homered in a three-run third inning against Lugnuts starter Rafael Kelly, putting the Lugnuts into an early hole, but the Nuts fought back to take a 5-3 lead with two runs in the bottom of third and a Max Schuemann three-run homer in the fourth.
Great Lakes shaved the lead to 5-4 in the fifth on a Ryan Ward RBI groundout off Kelly, and then tied the score at 5-5 in the top of the eighth on a two-out Leonel Valera home run off reliever Dalton Sawyer.
The situation: tie game, bottom of the 8th, Patrick McColl at second base.@austinbeck222 stepped up to the plate... pic.twitter.com/lLbeHY2yoL
— Lansing Lugnuts (@LansingLugnuts) May 26, 2021
But the Lugnuts’ bats awoke in the bottom of the eighth against Great Lakes right-hander Jack Little. With one out, Patrick McColl shot a single to left field. Beck followed with a liner to left-center to bring in McColl, untying the score. That brought up Selman, who thumped his second home run of the year out to left-center to put the Lugnuts up 8-5.
Elvis Peralta, Jr., singled to left, Max Schuemann delivered him with an RBI double, and Michael Guldberg capped the scoring with an RBI infield single.
The Nuts broke open a tie game with five runs in the 8th, including a two-run rocket from Shane Selman! pic.twitter.com/mCUfd3KCYn
— Lansing Lugnuts (@LansingLugnuts) May 26, 2021
Aiden McIntyre wrapped things up with a scoreless ninth to give the Lugnuts their fourth win in the last five games.
The Loons whiffed 13 times against four Lugnuts pitchers: four strikeouts by Kelly in five innings, two by Michael Danielak in 1 1/3 scoreless innings, five by Sawyer in 1 2/3 innings and two by McIntyre.
Center fielder Guldberg increased his team-high on-base streak to 14 games, going 2-for-4 with an RBI single, an RBI double, a walk and a run scored. Shortstop Schuemann extended his own streak to 13 games, finishing 2-for-5 with a double, home run, two runs scored and four runs batted in.
The second game of the six-game series is a Dog Days of Summer on Wednesday with dogs welcome at the ballpark! Lansing starts lefty Brady Basso (2.53) against Loons right-hander José Martínez (1.35) at 7:05 p.m. To purchase tickets, please visit lansinglugnuts.com or call (517) 485-4500.
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