In posting about a game, I usually report on the ballpark especially if it’s my first visit. The charm of most minor league parks is how they reflect the region or city. In some cases it’s obvious and other times it’s hard to determine if there’s any relationship between the team and the region. For example, Mudhens pocket schedules were everywhere in and around Toledo. In a past life, you couldn’t go to a neighborhood gas station in Chicago and not find an Old Style sponsored Cubs pocket schedule. Flash forward to 2024 where the Cubs don’t bother producing them.

Eastlake Ohio was the last stop on my northern Ohio/Cleveland Guardians trip. While AAA Toledo is a Tigers affiliate, they played Columbus when I saw them on Monday. Eastlake has been Cleveland’s MWL affiliate since 2010, before that they were in the South Atlantic League. Led by Ted Kubiak, the Captains won the MWL title that first season and have already secured a spot in the postseason by winning the MWL east division this season.

Two days after leaving Eastlake, I’m still unable to define it beyond a suburb of Cleveland. The hood surrounding Classic (Automotive Group) Park is nondescript at best. It appears to be easily accessible to highways and public transportation.

Standing in line before a game, I’m usually able to get a sense of the nature of fans’ interest in the team. Some fanbases attend only for the freebies, and others are player driven. I didn’t get a sense there was much of a connection with the particular group of guys despite their first half success. Editor’s note: This is neither a good nor bad thing, just a noticing. I was happy to see that there were plaques on the exterior wall commemorating all of the former Captains that had reached the ML and the year of their debut. That was a really nice touch.

Having stared at the gift shop while waiting to get in, it was naturally my first stop. They had a nice selection of playoff merch, but nothing featuring any of the current players’ names or numbers. I didn’t notice any alternate identity gear. However, what appears to be unique to Lake County was local artist-created banners for previous series. This was the best representation of the nautical theme-that and one food stand called the Galley. Otherwise, the Captain may have been a hotel bell captain.

My next stop was my most obvious, the “guest relations” in the hopes of securing a few pocket schedules, scorecards, rosters, game notes or stats. Unfortunately, the guest service dude didn’t care enough (his words) to provide fans with anything more than a scorecard the size of a sports bar’s daily beer specials. 97.2% of minor league parks make the effort to market the team through simple means. Summer interns are the lifeforce behind lower-level minor league operations, but not in Lake County. I apologize if this sounds like a rant, but in attempting to write up the actual game, I wasn’t provided the most basic information (such as complete names, uniform numbers and standard info) They also don’t publish a Gameday like magazine.

All that being said, the young man with whom I made my ticket selection a few days earlier, found a great front row seat beyond the third base dugout and netting for a most reasonable price. Despite there being 6,296 fans navigating the concourse was a breeze. Unlike most of the parks I’ve visited recently, there are no standard seats in the outfield, only berm seating and you can’t make it easily around the entire ballpark. There is a mini-golf course behind what looks like a dugout in left field.

The structure in right field holds batting cages and clubhouses twenty feet away. Yes, this important to the game story. A recent addition to the seating section behind home plate is the Roto-Rooter toilet row. I didn’t bother including a picture of that for personal reasons.

To be fair to the fans, most of them probably attended only for the postgame fireworks as nobody seemed to have any feelings for the players. Usually at this level of play fans take a really strong interest in the kids playing, realizing that most will never make the Bigs. Even the autograph collectors didn’t know any of the players on either team.

The visiting Dayton Dragons (Reds) entered play with a 41-37 record after finishing in second for the first half. None of the Dragons caught my eyes before landing in Ohio and since I didn’t get any paperwork from the Captains, I had no info to support me. It seemed like everyone in the lineup was hitting .224 though.

24-year-old Lake County starter, Carter Spivey was brilliant, holding the Dragons to four singles in 8 shutout innings.

He escaped a minor threat in the second, but got his second of 7 strikeouts to put an end to it.

Through the first seven innings, the Dragons pitchers matched Spivey out for out. Starter, T.J Sikkema gave Dragons manager Vince Harrison 5 shutout innings and reliever, Joseph Menefee two more before an eventful 8th inning.

Sikkema survived errors by his third baseman, Sal Stewart, second baseman, Victor Acosta, and shortstop Leo Balcazar. For the most part, those first seven innings were pretty uneventful, and the crowd wasn’t into the game save for the youngsters in their relentless pursuit of free baseballs. For the past five years or so, kids feel they have an unalienable right to a baseball-as tossed by a player or coach. Parents don’t suggest utilizing manners either. It used to be when one kid got a ball, a second and third would be shared with another fan. I have to say that the game emcee didn’t do a great job of connecting with the fans. None of his exhortations landed the blow he was seeking. And even he wasn’t drawing upon any connection with specific players.

Sometime before the seventh inning stretch, I stopped by the concourse to check on the progress of an artist.

It’s pretty rare to find someone painting at a ballgame, especially an American Eagle, especially using hotdogs as brushes and yellow mustard, catsup, relish, mayo and Stadium mustard. More on Stadium mustard later.

All hell broke loose in the bottom of the 8th inning. With lefty, Menefee in his third inning of work, the Captains broke up the double shutout when Alex Mooney scored from second on a Jose Devers single. Left fielder Allen appeared to hurt himself as he Laimbeer-flopped for the ball. The manager and trainer made their way out to Allen in what seemed like a timewaster so the bullpen could get ready, but I may have imagined that.

Devers scored on a questionable Maick Collado home run down the left field line. Everyone on the field reacted if their favorite dog died on the field. Harrison immediately confronted the umpires and was ejected pretty quickly. Without the aid of replay, the call was not overturned despite everyone in the ballpark realizing the Captains stole one. Harrison milked it for all he could and set a record for slowest walk to the visitor’s clubhouse down the right field line. Menefee struck out the next batter to end the inning. Captains 3-Dragons 0.

Full disclosure, I left the game in the top of the 9th. I was tired and figured that Lake County would win. The weather was beginning to change, and more fans were arriving for the fireworks. Sometimes, you just have to leave early. I have no idea if it has anything to do with prudence or valor.

Anyhow, the Dragons tied up the game at 3 in the top of the 9th. Lake County did nothing in their half. Dayton scored three more in the 10th, but the Captains only managed 2 in the bottom of the inning falling one run short. Dragons 6-Captains 5.

While I didn’t see the end of the game, I caught plenty of fireworks on my ride to Casa Bob. I had a great time and saw the Guardians organization go 1-3 from Hi-A to MLB.