Lake County leads Clinton, 2-1, in best-of-five Midwest League title series going into tonight's game in Eastlake. Cleveland Indians Class A team is in its eighth season in Eastlake, after playing 12 seasons as the Columbus (Ga.) RedStixx.
FARM REPORT
A Lake County Captains
Tonight: Clinton (Iowa) at Captains, 6:30. Captains lead the best-of-five game Midwest League championship series, two games to one. LumberKings RHP Taylor Stanton (12-7, 4.30 regular season; 0-1, 6.00 playoffs) vs. Captains LHP Vidal Nuno (6-8, 4.96 regular season; 1-1, 4.35 playoffs).
Notes: Going into Sunday night's game, the Captains leaders in batting average during the playoffs were SS Casey Frawley, .325 (13-of-40); OF Jason Smit, .313 (10-of-32); OF Tyler Holt, .297 (11-of-37); OF Jonathan Burnette, .281 (9-of-32); RF Greg Folgia, .258 (8-of-31); 2B Argenis Martinez, .250 (8-of-32)....Smit had scored 11 runs, followed by Frawley, Holt and Martinez with six each. Burnette and CF Delvi Cid had five runs. Folgia led with seven RBI. Smit, Holt and Cid each had six RBI, and Burnette had five....3B Adam Abraham, Burnette, Smit and Folgia each had two home runs. Frawley and Burnette had three doubles each....Catcher Roberto Perez and Holt had both drawn six walks. Cid was 5-of-5 on stolen base attempts and Holt was 4-of-4....RH reliever Preston Guilmet had earned a save in four of his five playoff appearances, and had pitched 8 2/3 scoreless innings. He had struck out 13, walked two and allowed three hits. Including the regular season and playoffs, Guilmet was 4-1 with a 1.93 ERA and 15 saves in 35 games (all relief), striking out 92 and walking 12 in 60 2/3 innings, while giving up just 38 hits -- including just three homers....RH reliever Francisco Jimenez was 2-0 with a 2.08 ERA in four playoff games, striking out nine while allowing nine hits and three walks in 8 2/3 innings....The Captains were 3-0 in RH Brett Brach's three playoff starts. Brach was 1-0 with a 3.45 ERA. He had struck out 17, walked two and allowed 17 hits in 15 2/3 innings....RHP Jason Knapp has struck out 41 in 24 1/3 innings for the Captains in six games, including two playoff starts. Prior to joining the Captains, Knapp, 20, had fanned 18 in 12 1/3 innings over five outings in the Arizona League -- where, beginning in July, he pitched in games for the first time since having off-season shoulder surgery. In 36 2/3 combined innings with the two teams, Knapp is 2-2 with a 2.70 ERA, has struck out 59, walked 13 and given up just 21 hits -- including no homers. Knapp, a 2008 second-round draft pick of the Phillies and considered an elite prospect, came to the Indians in the trade of Cliff Lee to Philadelphia last July. The Captains won both of Knapp's playoff starts. He was 1-0 with a 2.16 ERA....This is the first season for the Captains in the Midwest League. They had been in the South Atlantic League. The franchise, which has always a Class A affiliation of the Cleveland Indians, began in 1991 as the Columbus (Ga.) RedStixx. The team moved to the Captains' home in Eastlake after the 2002 season. Going into this season, the RedStixx/Captains franchise had not won a league championship, although it had claimed several first- or second-half season division titles.