LocalSportsJournal.com

Shane Zeile’s tiebreaking two-run home run in the seventh and final inning propelled the West Michigan Whitecaps to a 6-4 victory over the Bowling Green Hot Rods Thursday at Bowling Green Ballpark.LSJ Logo incert

Thursday’s contest was originally scheduled as a doubleheader after a Wednesday rainout, but the last two innings of the first game and the entirewhitecaps logo not for feature art second game were cancelled due to a flash flood in the Bowling Green area.

West Michigan is now 24-18 on the season, good for third place in the Midwest League Eastern Division, three games behind first-place South Bend.

The Whitecaps took 1-0 lead on an RBI single by Will Allen. The score remained the same until the fifth inning when Allen plated another run with a ground-rule double. Zeile followed with a two-run double to extend West Michigan’s advantage to 4-0.

The Hot Rods rallied to tie the game at 4-4. But with two outs in the seventh inning, Zeile launched his second homer in as many games to give the Whitecaps their final margin of victory.

The weather ended the contest after the seventh inning.

Whitecaps starting pitcher Matt Hall allowed a run in five innings while striking out seven. His personal scoreless streak ended at 17 1/3 innings when he surrendered a run in the fifth inning.

Relief pitcher Gerson Moreno (1-1) earned his first victory of the season after retiring the final five Bowling Green batters.

Allen reached base four times in the contest and Zeile finished the afternoon with four RBIs. The Whitecaps finished their six-game road-trip with a record of 4-2, including a sweep of the Bowling Green series. They are 12-8 away from Fifth Third Ballpark this season.