LocalSportsJournal.com

The West Michigan Whitecaps were down to their final out, trailing 2-1 in Game 1 against Dayton in the Midwest League Eastern Division semifinals on Wednesday, before a rally gave them a 3-2 victory.

With two outs in the top of the ninth, Daz Cameron singled to left field and Cole Bauml followed up with a walk to put two runners on. Danny Pinero then ripped a fly ball off the center field wall to score Cameron and Bauml to give West Michigan a 3-2 lead.

John Schreiber pitched a clean bottom of the ninth inning, striking out two, to pick up the save. Reliever Trent Szkutnik picked up the win, tossing two innings and surrendering one hit while striking out one.

Starting pitcher Anthony Castro gave up two earned runs on four hits and struck out four in six innings. Castro’s lone mistake came in the fourth inning when he served up a two-run home run by Dragons first baseman Bruce Yari.

Anthony Pereira had the other West Michigan RBI when he singled to bring home Pinero in the fifth inning.

West Michigan will return home on Thursday night in an attempt to close out the best-of-three series at 7 p.m., when starter Alfred Gutierrez takes the mound.