Beloit Sky Carp post fifth straight victory

BELOIT — The Beloit Sky Carp stayed red hot on Wednesday night, posting their fifth straight victory, 2-0 over the Lansing Lugnuts at ABC Supply Stadium.

Beloit won with pitching and defense after taking Tuesday night’s series opener 7-4 with a 15-hit attack. Wednesday’s win required just three hits due to some exceptional pitching and defense.

The Lugnuts (32-33) certainly threatened Wednesday night, but left 11 runners on base. They were 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position.

Lansing’s best scoring threat turned out to be its first at-bat. The Lugnuts loaded the bases with one out on three bases on balls by Sky Carp starter Emmett Olson. He wriggled out of the jam by striking out Cameron Masterman and coaxing Danny Bautista Jr. to line out to left fielder Jake DeLeo.

Beloit (30-33) also loaded the bases in the first inning and came away empty-handed.

In the fifth inning, Olson was replaced by Josh Ekness with a runner on and two outs and the reliever got Masterman to bounce into an inning-ending forceout.

The Sky Carp finally got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the fifth inning. Chase Luttrell led off with a double and Mark Coley II walked. A flyout moved Luttrell to third and Coley promptly stole second base. Josh Zamora then knocked in both baserunners with a single to center field. Sam Praytor grounded into an inning-ending double play.

Lansing threatened in the seventh when Henry Bolte belted a one-out double to center off reliever Evan Taylor. Will Sampson strucvk out, but a wild pitch moved Bolte to third. Brayton Buelvas then grounded out to shortstop Olmstead.

Ekness (2-2) collected the victory, working 1 1-3 scoreless innings. He walked one and struck out four. Olson worked 4 2-3 innings and allowed five hits and no runs, walking three and striking out six. Taylor worked two scoreless innings, allowing two hits and striking out four and Nigel Belgrave worked a scoreless ninth for his third save of the season.

On Tuesday, Zamora had four hits, including a two-run home run. Beloit had a 3-1 lead before the Lugnuts tied it on Simpson’s two-run homer in the sixth. Torin Montgomery’s RBI single put the Sky Carp back on top for good in the seventh. Olmstead smacked a two-run homer in the eighth.

Jacob Miller got the start and allowed three runs in 5 2-3 innings of work. Edgar Sanchez moved to 4-0 with the victory, tossing 1 2-3 innings of scoreless ball, while Xavier Meachem earned his fourth save.

• UP NEXT: The two teams meet again at 6:35 p.m. Thursday.

• WEDNESDAY BOXSCORE:

BELOIT 2, LANSING 0

Lansing 000 000 000 — 0 7 2

Beloit 000 020 00x — 2 3 0

LANSING (ab-r-h-rbi) — Halter, ss, 5-0-1-0; Bolte, cf, 4-0-1-0; Simpson, 1b, 3-0-0-0; Buelvas, rf, 3-0-1-0; Masterson, lf, 4-0-1-0; Bautista, dh, 4-0-0-0; Mann, 3b, 3-0-1-0; Conn, c, 4-0-1-0; Yamauchi, 2b, 3-0-1-0. Totals: 33-0-7-0.

BELOIT (ab-r-h-rbi) — Coley, cf, 2-1-0-0; Olmstead, ss, 4-0-1-0; Zamora, 2b, 4-0-1-2; Montgomery, 1b, 3-0-0-0; Praytor, dh, 3-0-0-0; Barstad, c, 4-0-0-0; DeLeo, lf, 3-0-0-0; Bullard, 3b, 3-0-0-0; Luttrell, rf, 2-1-1-0. Totals: 28-2-3-2.

E: Halter, Bolte. DP: L 1.LOB: L 11, B 8. 2B: Halter, Bolte, Luttrell. SB: Bolte (25), Coley (9).

Pitching: L, Garland 3.0-1-0-0-2-1; Hall (L,2-2) 2.0-2-2-2-3-1; Owen 2.0-0-0-0-0-3; Breault 1.0-0-0-0-0-0. B, Olson 4.2-5-0-0-3-6; Ekness (W,2-2) 1.1-0-0-0-1-1; Taylor 2.0-2-0-0-0-4; Belgrave (S,3) 1.0-0-0-0-1-0.

WP: Garland, Taylor. HBP: Luttrell by Owen. T: 2:28. Att.: 866.