Messick’s Career Day, Lake County’s Six-Run 4th Inning Lead Captains to 2nd Straight Win

EASTLAKE, Ohio – In the second of a scheduled six-game series, the Lake County Captains (17-20, 48-54) defeated the South Bend Cubs (17-21, 47-56) by a final score of 10-4 on Wednesday afternoon at Classic Auto Group Park in Eastlake.

This marks Lake County’s second consecutive victory.

Parker Messick (1-3), Cleveland’s No. 16 prospect according to MLB.com, had arguably the best outing of his Minor League career. In his first career High-A win, the left-hander pitched 5 scoreless innings, allowing just 3 hits and one walk, while throwing a career-high 11 strikeouts in 94 pitches (58 strikes).

The 22-year-old’s 11 strikeouts tied the most in a game by a Captains pitcher this season, which was previously achieved by current Akron RubberDucks pitcher Tommy Mace on June 8^th.

After leaving the bases loaded in the top of the 1^st inning, Messick allowed just 3 baserunners in his remaining 4 innings of work. These were courtesy of a single in the top of the 2^nd inning, a hit-by-pitch in the top of the 4^th inning, and an infield single in the top of the 5^th inning. The left-hander struck out 5 of the final 6 South Bend hitters he faced.

Offensively, Lake County scored the first 8 runs of the game, with 6 of them coming in the bottom of the 4^th inning. After 3 consecutive walks loaded the bases, Will Bartlett hit an RBI single to extend Lake County’s lead to 2-0. Nate Furman then drew a bases-loaded walk to give the Captains a 3-0 advantage. This led to a two-run double from Jake Fox, Cleveland’s No. 7 prospect according to MLB.com, which put Lake County ahead 5-0.

After Furman scored on a wild pitch, Chase DeLauter, Cleveland’s No. 5 prospect and MLB’s No. 100 prospect according to MLB.com, hit an RBI single to make it a 7-0 game. The 21-year-old finished the game 4-for-5 at the plate, recording 3 RBI singles in consecutive at-bats. The last of these RBI singles gave the Captains an 8-0 lead in the bottom of the 6^th inning.

Joe Lampe eventually hit a two-run single in the bottom of the 8^th inning to make the score 10-3 in favor of Lake County.

Cooper Ingle, Cleveland’s 4^th-round pick in the 2023 MLB Draft, made his professional baseball debut, finishing the game 2-for-2 at the plate with a pair of singles, 2 walks, a stolen base, and a run scored.

Josh Wolf pitched 2 innings of relief for the Captains, allowing 2 hits, 3 earned runs, and a career-high 5 walks, while throwing 2 strikeouts. After the right-hander began the 8^th inning with 4 consecutive walks, Shawn Rapp entered the game. The left-hander also pitched 2 innings of relief, allowing one hit, one earned run, and zero walks, while throwing one strikeout.

First pitch for Game 3 of this week’s scheduled six-game series between the Captains and Cubs is scheduled for tomorrow night at 7:00 PM. It will be both “Jewish Heritage Night” and “Bring Your Human Thursday” at the ballpark. Coverage of the game can be found on both the Bally Live app and MiLB.tv, as well as through @LCCaptains on both X and Instagram.