Captains bats not productive enough in loss to Snappers

Captains manager Ljke Carlin likes his team a lot and thinks it will make some waves in the Midwest League.

For now, the Captains are stuck in the mode of one step forward, two steps back.

With a 2-1 loss to the Beloit (Wis.) Snappers on May 6 at Classic Park, the Captains slipped to 13-15 on the season.

They dropped four of six games on the homestand and have seven losses in their last 10 games.

The Captains have some batters pounding the baseball and some pitchers pounding the strike zone.

Problem is, they haven’t brought together those elements nearly often enough in this still-young season.

“We’ll get good pitching but the hits won’t come. Then we’ll hit and not get the pitching,” Carlin said. “We need to be more consistent.”

Lake County’s pitching was good enough in the series finale to put the Captains in position to win.

Starter and eventual loser Francisco Perez (1-3, 6.00 ERA) limited the Snappers to two runs on four hits in six innings. Tommy DeJuneas worked three scoreless, hitless innings in relief.

The bats weren’t in concert with the arms, however.

Beloit starter Jean Ruiz and two relievers limited the Captains to one run on nine hits. The Captains stranded 10 baserunners and did not take advantage of good scoring chances in the bottom of the third, fourth, sixth and eighth innings.

“Give their pitchers credit for limiting the runs with so much traffic out there,” Carlin said.

The Captains got their run in the bottom of the fourth inning on a double by Nolan Jones and RBI single by Will Benson. First baseman Ulysses Cantu, returning to the lineup after missing six games with a sore shoulder, doubled and pushed Benson to third base.

The rally died when Ruiz struck out Jose Vicente and Gian Paul Gonzales to end the inning.

“We’re a better team than we’ve showed the last three series,” Carlin said.

Beloit improved to 11-13.

The Captains open a six-game trip on May 7 against the Kane County (Ill.) Cougars. First pitch is 7:30 p.m.