Lugnuts finish season with 11-0 rout of Captains

EASTLAKE, OH – The Lansing Lugnuts (34-36; 70-69) finished the 2010 season with an 11-0 romp over the Lake County Captains (33-37; 77-62), led by four hits apiece from Jake Marisnick and Brad Glenn and a seven-inning, two-hit, shutout performance from starting pitcher Casey Lawrence.

Lake County starter Trey Haley (5-11) lasted only two-thirds of an inning, reached for three runs on two hits, two walks, a wild pitch, and a hit batsman.

The Lugnuts scored four more runs in the fourth inning against reliever Mike Rayl before putting the game away on Randy Schwartz's first home run of the season in the sixth inning.

Lawrence (1-1) cruised from there, allowing only a Chase Burnette infield single and one of two Adam Abraham doubles.

Ryan Tepera pitched the eighth inning and Scott Gracey and Matt Wright combined for the ninth, with Wright striking out Ben Carlson and Dwight Childs to end the season.

The Lugnuts offense combined for 16 base hits in the easy win, half of those provided by McElroy and Marisnick. Schwartz and Oliver Dominguez added a pair of hits each, and leadoff Dominguez scored three runs.

Lansing also stole five bases in the game, two by Marisnick and one each from McElroy, Michael Crouse, and Jon Del Campo.

Here is what Jake had to say on Twitter after the game:

Last game of my first season went good.. Flying home tomorrow.. Had a lot of fun this season and learned a lot

Our boy Jesse caught up with Lugnuts manager Sal Fasano a few days ago. Some of the highlights include:

• Sal mentioning the organization having All Stars at the catcher position in every level
• Doc having the best sinker he had every seen
• A shout out to the Italian fanbase in Toronto
• Him owning the White Sox during his playing days
• Glowing words for both SS Ryan Goins and C A.J. Jimenez

Sal does say "whether I'm here or not" which leads me to believe he may be making a move this offseason. He may get the opportunity to manage at a higher level next year and it wouldn't be a complete shocker if he ended up in the Majors, perhaps as a pitching coach.

Jesse also caught up with Sal before the season started. They discuss how he ended up getting the job as the manager of the Lugnuts and what it was like to be in spring training as a coach and not a player. Gotta love the singing of God Bless America in the background.

Is this the face of your Toronto Blue Jays next manager? There was this story not too far back.....

Dominguez’s double does in Dragons, 9-8

Lugnuts win wild walk-off affair in 10 innings
 

LANSING, Mich. – In a wild affair that saw six lead changes, three blown saves, and four brilliant relievers get battered, Oliver Dominguez lined a walk-off double in the bottom of the tenth to lift the Lansing Lugnuts (10-7) to a 9-8 win over the Dayton Dragons (9-8) on Saturday night at Cooley Law School Stadium.
The decisive blow came off of Dayton closer Donnie Joseph (2-1), who entered the game having given up only one hit and no runs in seven previous outings but served up three hits in the span of six batters to a Lugnuts team missing Brad Glenn and Mark Sobolewski due to injury.
With one out in the tenth, Kenny Wilson lined a single into the left field. Dominguez followed by drilling the first pitch he saw from Joseph into the right-center gap, scoring Wilson and touching off a celebration on the middle of the diamond.
It was the second big double of the game for the Lugnuts designated hitter a day after his 21st birthday. With Lansing trailing 6-5 in the eighth inning, Oliver Dominguez cracked a two-run double off Nick Christiani.
A sacrifice fly from A.J. Jimenez scored Dominguez to give the Lugnuts an 8-6 lead going to the ninth, but Dayton tallied twice against Brian Slover -- keyed by Chris Richburg's game-tying triple -- to send the game into extras.
Slover (2-0) recovered to pitch a perfect tenth, picking up the win.
The game saw 30 combined base hits, 18 by the Lugnuts. Dominguez, Sean Ochinko, and Ryan Goins each had three hits, with Ochinko slugging his first home run of the season.
For the Dragons, Richburg notched four RBIs to give himself 18 for the young season.

Our boy Jesse caught up with Oliver and an interpreter a few weeks after this big game on his birthday.  Check it: