MIDLAND -- The Great Lakes Loons battled all night, working from behind most of the game and tying it up three times, before eventually upending the visiting South Bend Silver Hawks, 6-4, in front of a Saturday night crowd of 3,746.

Down 4-3 late, the Great Lakes Loons loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the eighth inning before catcher Michael Pericht hit a sacrifice fly to left field to once again tie the game. The run marked the third time the Loons had battled back and this time the Loons did not settle for a tie game. A wild pitch from Jeremy Erben skipped off home plate to the backstop to score Bobby Coyle for the Loons first lead of the game. Second baseman Casio Grider made things a little sweeter by knocking his fourth hit into shallow left field for one more run.

“That’s our job to battle back and win games,” Grider said after the game. “We pick our pitchers up [when they struggle] and if we are not doing good hitting, the pitchers will pick us up.”

Grider finished the night four-for-five with two doubles and two RBI batting from the lead-off spot for only his fifth time this season.

South Bend got on the board in the first inning with a Zach Walters line drive into shallow right field to score Ender Inciarte from second base. The Loons leveled the game in the bottom of the inning on a sacrifice fly from Christian Lara. The Silver Hawks again took the lead in the third on three consecutive two-out hits to make it 2-1, but the Loons quickly responded again with Grider’s second double of the game scored Pericht. A pair of two-out hits from South Bend in the fifth inning made it 4-2 Silver Hawks.

The Great Lakes Loons benefited from a South Bend throwing error in the sixth when shortstop Raul Navarro, in an attempt to throw out Pericht at first, pulled the first baseman off the bag with a wide throw and allowed the Loons to score a two-out run of their own, chipping away at the South Bend lead. The Loons were inches away from scoring more in the inning, but Mike Freeman made an athletic leap to snag the inning’s final out. Two innings later the Loons tied it up for the third and final time.

Loons reliever Pete Budkevics stepped into a big role in the seventh inning with the bases load and one out. The righty, normally the team’s closer, got the Loons out of the pinch with eight pitches, seven that went for strikes, to fan two South Bend batters. He picked up the win in the outing and pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the eighth before Logan Bawcom stepped in for the save. Loons starter Red Patterson allowed the ‘Hawks four runs on eight hits through 4.2 innings and was relieved by Andrew Pevsner.

The Loons will continue their four-game series with the Silver Hawks on Sunday at 2:05 p.m. and will send RHP Gustavo Gomez (0-0, 12.00) to the bump against South Bend’s LHP David Holmberg (3-3, 3.80). Prior to Sunday’s 2:05 p.m. game will be one of the Loons pregame youth baseball clinics, presented by Farm Bureau Insurance. Gates open at 11:00 a.m. for the clinics.

The Great Lakes Loons are a fifth-year Single-A partner of the Los Angeles Dodgers and members of the Midwest League. For more information about the Loons, visit Loons.com or call 989-837-BALL.