Lake County got its offense rolling early and that was enough, as the Captains downed Fort Wayne 7-4 on Sunday to even the Midwest League Eastern Division championship series at one game apiece.
The series finale will be played tonight.
Lake County scored five runs in the second inning and that would hold for the hosts.
After Fort Wayne took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning on an Austin Hedges RBI double, Lake County began to score in the bottom of the second inning.
The Captains' Jake Lowery led off by hitting a ground ball to Tyler Stubblefield, which was misplayed for an error. Bryson Myles then singled on a hard grounder to Stubblefield, putting two men on base with no outs. Tyler Naquin singled home Lowery to tie the game at one. Joey Wendle used a sacrifice fly to score Myles, and Jose Ramirez followed with an RBI single, making it 3-1. The inning's biggest hit was a two-run triple off the bat of Jordan Smith, capping the five-run frame.
The TinCaps scored twice in the fourth, getting back-to-back run-scoring hits from Kyle Gaedele and Tyler Stubblefield. Lee Orr continued his postseason power surge with a fifth-inning solo home run, which carried over the wall in center field and brought Fort Wayne to within 6-4.
Fort Wayne starter Erik Cabrera was chased from the game after giving up a run in the bottom of the fourth. He went 3 1/3 innings, allowed eight hits, six runs (three earned), walked two and struck out four. The bullpen surrendered one earned run in 4 1/3 innings.
After Orr's home run the TinCaps offense sputtered to a halt, picking up just two base hits over the final four innings. The offense was 1-10 with runners in scoring position, and stranded eight men on base.
