Dominic Ficociello stretches to make the play at first, but ultimately failed. South Bend beat West Michigan to extend the battle for first to the final game of the first half. Damien Dennis/The Pit
[dropcap]W[/dropcap]est Michigan needed one more win to clinch first place. South Bend needed to even the series to keep their first-place hopes alive.
The latter achieved their goal. Now, both teams are even atop the Midwest League Eastern Division following South Bend’s 4-1 defeat of West Michigan Saturday night at Four Winds Field. The third and final game of not only the series but the first half of the Midwest League regular season will be played for bragging rights, momentum and first place honors heading into the All-Star break.
Game 2 saw West Michigan fail to get the bats going until late and produce offensively. Their first recorded hit didn’t come until the fourth inning while the Silver Hawks were up 3-0 by that point.
The Whitecaps began to rally in the sixth inning, when Bennett Pickar tallied a base hit to left-center field, the team’s second of the day. Jose Zambrano followed suit with single of his own to put runners at first and second. Following Austin Schotts striking out, Javier Betancourt rocketed the ball to left field and driving Pickar home.
Raph Rhymes couldn’t keep the rally going however, as he grounded out into a double play to end the sixth down 3-1.
In the seventh, Dominic Ficociello did his best to begin another rally for the Whitecaps. After a base hit, he reached second on a balk. But the batters behind him went down in order, with Wynton Bernard, Ben Verlander and Willy Adames all grounding out. Zambrano hit a rocket in the eighth and stole second, but again, the Whitecaps failed to rally the troops behind him.
South Bend, on the other hand, had all the momentum throughout the night. After stranding Breland Almadova at first in the opening inning, Zach Esquerra struck out looking but reached first on a wild pitch. After a ground out advanced Esquerra to second, Michael Perez singled to right field and put runners at first and third. The Silver Hawks tallied their first run when George Roberts hit a sacrifice fly to bring Esquerra home.
They struck again in the third, when a throwing error and a sac-fly put the Silver Hawks up 3-0. South Bend added an insurance run in the eighth on an unsuccessful fielder’s choice.
West Michigan finished the game with seven hits but left 16 runners on base throughout the game. Jonathan Maciel took the loss on the mound after giving up three runs on six hits with an ERA of 3.27. Scott Sitz took over in the eighth to turn things around, but tallied a walk and a run while striking out five.
Rhymes went 2-for-4 while Zambrano was 2-for-3 on the day, both tallying doubles. Betancourt earned the RBI and went 1-for-4 while Pickar tallied the run.
The Whitecaps (40-29) and the Silver Hawks (40-28) have both clinched playoff spots, the first since 2010 for the ‘Caps. It’s also their first 40-win first half record since 2009. Today’s 2:05 p.m. first pitch from Four Winds Field will be for the Midwest League East Division title for the first half of the season. Both teams will be looking for their 41st win and to carry momentum over into the latter half of the season.
