The South Bend Cubs (58-37) defeated the Lake County Captains (53-42) in historic fashion on Thursday night at Classic Auto Group Park, rolling to an 11-8 victory. A day after setting a new single-game South Bend Cubs record for walks, the Cubs broke the South Bend Cubs record for pitching strikeouts in a single game (19). They also mashed five home runs, tying the single-game South Bend Cubs record for long balls.
Click here to view Thursday’s box score.
Especially compelling about the Cubs’ 17-hit, 11-run offensive showcase is that it began against a right-hander with more than 400 MLB innings under his belt. Ben Lively started for Lake County on a rehab assignment, pitching 1.2 innings and allowing the first two runs of the game on back-to-back home runs in the top of the second. Center fielder Kade Snell first went deep, planting his fourth home run of the season beyond the right-field wall. Catcher Logan Poteet followed with his 17th long ball of the year, ripping a solo shot down the left-field line. Snell would blast an even longer home run to right field in the third inning, giving the Cubs a 4-0 advantage with a two-run crush job.
Right-hander Nazier Mule made the start for South Bend, setting a career high with eight strikeouts in 3.1 innings. Mule struck out three Captains in both the second and the third inning, although he allowed two runs to score on a double from center fielder Jace LaViolette in the bottom of the third. After Mule departed with a runner on base in the fourth inning, third baseman Juan Benjamin took right-hander Brayden Spears deep to right field, tying the game with his two-run home run.
The Cubs’ offense answered right back and hammered Lake County pitching for the rest of the night, building up a 10-4 lead en route to the 11-8 victory. In the top of the fifth, third baseman Matt Halbach busted out of a slump with a solo home run to left field, giving the Cubs a 5-4 lead that held up for good. Halbach now has seven home runs on the year, all of which have come on the road.
South Bend tallied another three runs in the sixth, as shortstop Michael Hallquist singled to lead off and stole two bases to get the action going. Not long after, first baseman Josiah Hartshorn rocketed a two-run triple off the top of the wall in left-center; he would come around to score on Halbach’s RBI single to right-center. Hartshorn delivered another key hit in the seventh inning, ripping a double down the right-field line to score designated hitter Kane Kepley and second baseman Ty Southisene, who had each singled with two outs. The top Cubs prospect now has eight RBI for the series and 84 for the full season, as he ripped an extra-base hit from both sides of the plate on Thursday.
With Lake County rallying on the other side, Poteet provided a welcome insurance run in the top of the eighth, belting his second solo home run of the night to left field. Poteet is up to 18 home runs on the year between Single-A Myrtle Beach and High-A South Bend, as he and Snell both recorded their first multi-homer games as professionals on Thursday. All told, six of the nine hitters on the South Bend lineup card finished the game with multiple hits, Southisene recording three in his first start since June 24.
Despite trailing by six at one point, Lake County remained in the game by scoring a pair of runs in both the seventh and eighth innings. In the seventh, LaViolette drilled a long, two-run home run to right field, leaving no doubt with his 17th round-tripper of the year. A balk and an RBI single from designated hitter Jonah Advincula accounted for the two runs in the eighth. In the midst of those scoring plays, right-hander Yoendris Gonzalez made his High-A debut on the South Bend mound, striking out three in 1.2 innings. Right-hander Ethan Bell also struck out three in a perfect bottom of the ninth inning, retiring the Captains in order to secure his seventh save of the season.
With South Bend leading the series 2-1, the Cubs and Captains will square off next at 7:00 PM on Friday, July 31. Rehabbing right-hander Kohl Franklin, who helped the Cubs defeat Lake County for the 2022 Midwest League Championship, is scheduled to start for South Bend against Lake County left-hander Jackson Humphries.