SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Christian Olivo homered twice and drove in six runs, powering the South Bend Cubs (16-12) past the Lansing Lugnuts (11-20), 14-6, on Friday night at Four Winds Field.
The South Bend surge overshadowed a pair of home runs from Lansing shortstop Bobby Boser, who led off the game with a roundtripper to right. Two innings later, Boser launched his team-leading fifth home run of the year to left for a 3-0 Nuts lead. Boser added a pair of singles, finishing the game 4-for-5 with three runs scored.
But the Cubs roared back with 14 unanswered runs, tallying a run in the third and two in the fourth, ending Kyle Robinson’s at 3 1/3 innings on an Olivo bases-loaded walk; pinning five runs on Tucker Novotny in the fifth, capped by an Olivo three-run homer; and tallying six unearned runs against Jose Dicochea in the sixth, capped by an Olivo two-run homer.
Gerlin Rosario finally silenced the hosts with 1 1/3 innings of hitless relief.
Gunner Gouldsmith followed with the Lugnuts’ first position-player-pitching stint of the year, allowing three singles before inducing a double play from top prospect Kane Kepley to post a goose egg in the eighth.
Lugnuts catcher Davis Diaz closed out the scoring with a three-run homer in the ninth against Ethan Flanagan, Diaz’s third longball of the year.
The Cubs have won the first four games of the series, clinching a series win.
Lansing right-hander Tzu-Chen Sha starts the fifth game, set for 4:05 p.m. Saturday. South Bend counters with lefty Cole Reynolds.
The Lugnuts will wrap up the series on Sunday before returning home from May 12-17 to host the Quad Cities River Bandits. For tickets and more information, call (517) 485-4500 or visit www.milb.com/lansing.
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