Dan the Man and I visited South Bend Indiana yesterday (Sunday) to see the South Bend Cubs play the Lake County Captain at Four Winds Field. It took me about 40-45 minutes to go from my house to Dan the Man’s house. He had never invited me to his house before; so I wanted to make sure I was going the right way and that took me a little longer than it should’ve. From Dan the Man’s house it took us a couple of hours to get into South Bend. As we got into South Bend I think Dan the Man and I were thinking the same thing and that we had driven past the stadium because we where actually in the town of South Bend. Dan the Man’s GPS told him to turn right and Four Winds Field was right there less than a block off the main drag. It’s a cool spot for a stadium, but we had no idea we where that close to the ballpark. We got to park as close to a ballpark as I ever had before. We where parked so close that even with my bad knees it took us about 3 minutes to walk into Four Winds Field. Dan the Man picked up our media passes and we where allowed to sit either in the press box or the scouts seats; we chose the press box. It was a sunny warm and humid day and the press box was much cooler. There were 5 guys in there already with pretty elaborate computer set ups covering the game for different web site; so I tried to stay out of their way. I wasn’t using a computer as I was keeping score by hand. Like a lot of minor league teams the South Bend Cubs do a lot of pre-game activities with the fans and even during the game they run contests. It was humorous to watch the fans do the different contests, but it’s a good way to keep the younger kids attention on the field. Then it was game time and they announced the South Bend Cubs line up and each player came out of the dugout with a kid who’s name was announced along with the players. If something like that had happened to me when I was a kid I would still be talking about it. The Cavalry Kids sang the national anthem and it was game time.
Trevor Clifton was the starting pitcher for the South Bend Cubs while Jordan Milbrath started the game for the Lake County Captains. Both pitchers had 1, 2, 3 1st inning with Clifton striking out 2 batters and Milbrath getting 1 strikeout. Clifton had some trouble in the top of the 2nd inning. Bobby Bradley led off the inning with a walk for Lake County. After the walk Taylor Murphy hit a 2-run home run to rightfield. Dorssys Paulino singled after the home run, but Clifton got out of the inning with a strikeout and a double play grounder. The Cubs led off their half of the 2nd with a single by Yasiel Balaguert, but he was wiped out on a double play and a strikeout ended the inning. 2-0 Lake County after 2 innings. Clifton struckout the lead off hitter in the top of the 3rd inning. Greg Allen doubled after that, but the next 2 hitters flew out to the leftfielder to end the inning. South Bend went down 1, 2, 3 in their half of the 3rd inning. In the 4th inning both teams where retired 1,2,3. Yu-Cheng Chang was hit by a pitch to lead off the top of the 5th for Lake County, but he was thrown out trying to steal 2nd. After a fly out to centerfield Ordomar Valdez drew a walk and stole 2nd base. Greg Allen’s 2nd double of the game drove in Valdez to give Lake County a 3-0. A ground out ended the inning for Lake County. Wilbrath was able to retire South Bend 1, 2, 3 in the bottom of the 5th inning striking out hit batters. After 5 innings Lake County had a 3-0 lead. In the top of the 6th inning Clifton got a strikeout and a fly out before Taylor Murphy picked up his 2nd hit of the game; a single, but he was stranded there when Clifton struck out Dorssys Paulino the end the inning. After 2 fly outs to centerfield Rashad Crawford singled, but was stranded there as Charcer Burks grounded out to end the 6th inning. Clifton got the first out of the 7th inning via strikeout. Martin Cervenka singled after that, but Ordomar flew out to left for the 2nd out of the inning. Clifton then hit Greg Allen his 2nd hit batter of the game to out runners on 1st and 2nd. Dillion Maples was called out of the South Bend bullpen and got Yonathan Mendoza to ground out to the first baseman to end the threat. South Bend was able to get a 1 out single by Jason Vosler in their half of the 7th inning, but a fly out and a ground out ended the inning.Maples walked the lead off hitter Anthony Santander, but he was caught stealing. Maples struck out the next 2 hitters to end the inning. Lake County went to the bullpen for the 8th inning as Nick Pasquale took over for Jordan Milbrath. Pasquale got a ground out and a strike out for 2 quick outs in the bottom of the 8th inning, but Andrew Ely, Rashad Xrawford and Charcer Burks all singled with Burks single driving in Ely to get South Bend on the board. Burks stole 2nd, but a flu out to centerfield by Gleybar Torres stranded runners on 2nd and 3rd and after 8 innings the score was 3-1. Maples had a 1,2,3 top of the 9th inning for South Bend. Lake County made another call to the bullpen. Luke Eubanlk took over on the mound for the bottom of the 9th inning. Eubank struck out the first 2 batters he faced and then got Kevin Encarnacion to ground out to the shortstop to end the game.
Final Score Lake County 3 South Bend 1
For the Lake County Captains. Greg Allen had 2 hits; both doubles and an RBI. Taylor Murphy had 2 hit; one being a home run and 2 RBI’s. Dorssys Paulino and Martin Cervenka each had a hit.
Jordan Milbrath got the win pitching 7 innings. Milbrath gave up 2 hits, walked 1 and struck out 4; throwing 86 pitches.
Nick Pasquale pitched 1 inning. Pasquale gave up 1 run on 3 hits with 1 strikeout while throwing 21 pitches.
Luke Eubank pitched 1 inning picking up a save. Eubank struck out 2 while throwing 16 pitches.
For the South Bend Cubs. Rashad Crawford had 2 hits. Andrew Ely, Yasiel Balaguert and Charcer Burks each had 1 hit while Burks had South Bend’s RBI.
Trevor Clifton took the loss pitching 6 2/3rd innings. Clifton gave up 3 runs on 6 hits while walking 2 and striking out 8 while throwing 97 pitches.
Dillion Maples pitched 2 1/3rd innings. Maples walked 1 and struck out 2 while throwing 31 pitches.
While Dan the Man and I got to see a very good game; sadly the South Bend Cubs lost, but Chris Hagstrom from the South Bend Cubs will join Dan the Man and I Tuesday at 5:00 p.m. on the Sport Time Radio podcast. While we’ll talk to Chris about the game and the team of course I’m sure we’ll find a way to ask him about leading the princess parade before the game. You can listen to Chris and us at BlogTalkRadio.com
You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime
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