Loons win exciting game to stay in Playoff Hunt

The Great Lakes Loons stayed in the Midwest League playoff hunt with a victory over their in state rival West Michigan Whitecaps.   The Loons are in a tight battle for one of the two remaining playoff spots for 2014. 

Powered by home runs from Jesmuel Valentin and Josmar Cordero they hung on to win 5-4 over the Whitecaps.   The Loons held the Whitecaps back after loading the bases in the bottom of the 9th inning.   Reliever Jacob Rhame pitched two scoreless innings to preserve the win.   Jordan Hershiser pitched a couple of innings in relief also and picked up the win. 

West Michigan (Detroit Tigers affiliate) already has clinched a playoff spot by winning the first half of the Midwest League and are currently leading the second half also.   So a Loons victory was very important to keep pace with the Dayton Dragons.   The Whitecaps were lead by Domingo Leyba who stroked 4 hits on the night and reached base 5 times.  

In front of 4,729 fans tonight at Dow Diamond the Loons improved to 26-27 in the second half and 59-63 overall for the 2014 season.   The Loons continue with the Whitecaps for two more games and then travel to Fort Wayne for a 3 game series.   The Loons are starting to make a playoff run and are playing exciting baseball over at the Dow Diamond.