SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Every time West Michigan found a little life Friday night, the South Bend Cubs had an answer. The last one came from Brennan Hudson, whose three-run homer in the seventh gave the Cubs the necessary runs in a 7-5 win over the West Michigan Whitecaps in front of 7,839 fans at Four Winds Field.
South Bend built its cushion early. Jojo Ingrassia lasted just three innings, undone by a Josiah Hartshorn walk, an Angel Cepeda triple, a Jose Escobar double and a Kade Snell double play that somehow still plated a run — three runs in all, and the loss (3 IP, 6 H, 3 ER) went on his ledger. Preston Howey took over and gave up a solo shot to Alexey Lumpuy to make it 4-0, then settled down and kept it there through the fifth.
West Michigan finally got going in the seventh. Cristian Santana singled, Carson Rucker followed with a two-run shot off Alfredo Romero, and by the time Nolan McCarthy singled, Jackson Strong doubled, Bryce Rainer walked and Beau Ankeney lifted a sac fly, the deficit was down to one, 4-3.
It didn't last. Matt Halbach and Justin Stransky singled to open the home seventh, and Hudson made West Michigan pay for it, sending one out for three runs and a 7-3 lead that held up as the game's real turning point.
The Whitecaps kept scrapping. Andrew Sojka singled and stole both second and third to open the eighth, Santana walked and swiped a bag of his own, and Rucker's groundout and McCarthy's sac fly trimmed it to 7-5. That's as close as it got — Adam Stone and closer Ethan Bell shut the door from there. Romero picked up the win despite the damage against him; Bell earned the save.
Rainer had an up-and-down night — an early strikeout and a pickoff at first that turned into a caught stealing were the low points, but he came back to draw three walks and swipe a base of his own, but due to the walks, was unable to continue his franchise-record home run streak, which comes to an end at five games.
The loss drops West Michigan to 55-61, and 31-21 in the second half. South Bend now sits at 67-47 and 28-24 in the back half of 2026. Alfredo Romero (4-2) gets his fourth win despite giving up three runs in 2.2 frames, while Ingrassia (0-1) takes the loss. Cubs closer Ethan Bell gets his eighth save of the season. McCarthy was the best hitter for either side, going 3-for-3 with a double and the RBI that got West Michigan within two.
UP NEXT
West Michigan and the South Bend Cubs push their six-game series to the weekend, with a Saturday contest at 7:05 p.m. Connor Fenlong gets the start for West Michigan against the Cubs Pierce Coppola. Broadcast coverage with Nate Wangler begins on the Whitecaps Baseball Network at 6:50 pm on ‘The Ticket West Michigan’ and 1340 WJRW-AM in Grand Rapids, and online at WhitecapsBaseball.com.