The Loons finish with an overall record of 67-73, which ranks sixth in the Midwest League's Eastern Division, and fourth in team history, behind the 2010, 2009 and 2011 teams.
/ Earl Arms
MIDLAND -- The Great Lakes Loons lost the final game of the season 9-0 to the South Bend Silver Hawks Monday afternoon at Dow Diamond in front of 3,909 Loons fans.
The Loons finish with an overall record of 67-73, which ranks sixth in the Midwest League's Eastern Division, and fourth in team history, behind the 2010, 2009 and 2011 teams.
"The Dodgers are lucky to have a place like Dow Diamond in the Midwest League to play and call home," Loons manager John Shoemaker said first when asked about his second year as the Loons skipper. "It's a very competitive league with a lot of good players and potential big leaguers. Coming back here a second year, I knew more what to expect with weather and travel and how the league played out.
"[As for the team], we had some pitchers that got promoted and some of the guys that stood out for us were Dickson [missing time early] and finishing with 17 home runs and .270 was a plus for us; James Baldwin with a lot of stolen bases was a plus; Darnell Sweeney coming on strong was a big plus for us and Scott Schebler leading the league in games played and batting .260, that was a plus. We're just happy with the effort they gave."
In Monday's game, the Silver Hawks piled on 15 hits for nine runs against the Loons, who South Bend limited to six hits in the shutout. Sweeney led the Loons with two hits in the game, and Pedro Guerrero recorded the last hit at Dow Diamond this season. Jackson Mateo made the spot start for Gustavo Gomez in his Midwest League debut and was charged with the loss, allowing three runs on five hits across four innings.
Despite the loss, the Loons finished their season strong, winning nine of their last 12 games.
At season's end, SS Sweeney leads the team with a .291 batting average; Schebler leads in runs (67), hits (134), doubles (32), triples (8) and RBI (67); outfielder Baldwin leads in stolen bases (53) and triples (8); and Dickson leads in home runs with 17. Defensively, Arismendy Ozoria and Gomez finished with the most wins (8) and strikeouts (77), while Craig Stem nabbed the most saves (4).
