The Lansing Lugnuts are hoping that even a solid rainfall and 24 hours won’t extinguish their red-hot bats when they continue their series versus West Michigan tonight.
After rain forced the two teams to cancel Monday’s game, the Whitecaps (2-2) and Lugnuts (3-1) will play a doubleheader with game one beginning at 6:05 p.m.
A 10-run first inning propelled Lansing to a 12-3 win over the Whitecaps on Sunday. The 3-1 start is the best in the franchise’s history.
Lugnut catcher Lukas McKnight said the team will be anxious to get at the West Michigan pitchers in a similar fashion.
“After a game like that when the bats came out on fire, everyone’s itching to get back into the batter’s box,” he said.
Through four games, outfielders Buck Coats and J.J. Johnson and first baseman Brad Bouras have led the Lugnut offense.
Coats maintains a .571 batting average by going 8-for-14 and scoring five runs. Johnson and Bouras are both batting .438, with six RBIs and five RBIs respectively.
Bouras said hitters typically don’t get off to great starts in the spring.
“It’s definitely not fun to hit in the cold, but it’s one of those things you just try to forget about,” he said.
Lugnut manager Julio Garcia said the Lugnuts’ hitting has been very timely.
“We haven’t struck out as much and we’re putting the ball in play,” Garcia said. “Especially with two strikes or two outs, hitting has been especially good through this point.”
A pair of left-handed pitchers head to the hill in game one with Carmen Pignatiello going for Lansing and Kevin McDowell throwing for the Whitecaps. After Pignatiello makes his first appearance of the season in game one, Lugnuts ace Angel Guzman will be the starter in game two. The Whitecaps starter will be announced later.
Guzman (1-0), a 20-year-old right-hander, started the season opener for Lansing and threw eight strong innings, yielding just two hits and one run, while striking out eight. The Lugnuts won the game 2-1.
But the pitching only will matter so much if the Lugnuts can continue to pound teams into the ground at the plate.
“We got some hitters on this team,” McKnight said. “If you throw the ball over the plate, we’re going to get some hits.”
