Patick K’s Seven in Loons 2-1 Opening Day Win

MIDLAND, Mich. – Great Lakes Loons (1-0) pitching struck out 11 Fort Wayne TinCaps (0-1) in a narrow 2-1 victory on a cloudy 49-degree Friday night at Dow Diamond.

- Sterling Patick, in his third ever High-A outing, struck out seven in five scoreless innings. The left-hander earned strikeouts with the fastball, slider and curveball. Patick tied Michael Boyle (2016) for the third most strikeouts in an opening day start by a Loon with seven.

- Offensively, Great Lakes had four hits, two for extra bases. Cameron Decker, who hit four of his five home runs with the Loons in 2025 at Dow Diamond, delivered his first. The Evansville, Indiana product jumped on the first pitch and sent it 365 feet with an 107 mph exit velocity. Great Lakes grabbed the game’s first run in the fifth.

- Logan Wagner, provided the other extra-base hit. He roped a double to left-center field to start the seventh. With one out, a Jose Meza infield single followed by a Decker being hit by a pitch and a Victor Rodrigues walk pushed the Loons ahead 2-1.

- Great Lakes bullpen allowed just one run. In the sixth, Jacob Frost permitted a leadoff single to Fort Wayne’s Kasen Wells and then put the next three on via walks. A double play ended the frame and limited the damage. Frost fired a 1-2-3 top of the seventh.

- Logan Tabeling locked things down the rest of the way. The right-hander punched out two and on a 3-1 putout to end things, made a leaping grab then tiptoed across first base.

Rounding Things Out

The last two Loons opening day victories have come against Fort Waye. In 2024, Noah Miller provided a walk-off win in an 11-inning epic.

Up Next

Tomorrow, Saturday April 4th, Great Lakes and Fort Wayne are back in action. The first pitch is at 1:05 pm. Postgame is Lou E’s Easter Egg Fest, where kids can search for colorful eggs scattered in the outfield.

The Great Lakes Loons have been a partner of the Los Angeles Dodgers since the team’s inception in 2007. Dow Diamond serves as the team’s home and also houses the Michigan Baseball Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit public charity, and Sports Radio 100.9 The Mitt. For tickets or information about the Loons, call 989-837-BALL or visit Loons.com.