By Andrew Mild

The Lake County Corn Dogs; Carter Sakamoto was in a lengthy slump, but he never lost hope and neither did his teammates or coaches. That said, Sakamoto delivered in the seventh inning and the Corn Dogs edged the Crestwood Panthers in a one-run game Wednesday at Legacy Fields in Crown Point.

“His swings were starting to look a lot better,” said Manager Coach Justin Huisman, “which is funny that the ones he was hitting harder were outs and the softer ones were hits.”

The Corn Dogs went up 2-0 in the fourth inning on a Sakamoto RBI single and a wild pitch that sent Cal Curiel home.

The Panthers then put some lumps on the Corn Dogs, as Peter Fusek, the Northern League RBI leader, drove in another run in the fifth to cut the Lake County lead in half.

Crestwood continued their momentum in the sixth, scoring a run on a wild pitch. The Panthers added two more runs in the seventh inning to take a 4-2 late in the game.

But these are the “cardiac Corn Dogs.”

Gavin Terry led off the eighth inning with a walk and stole second base, and Cal Curiel singled up the middle to drive in Terry, making it a one-run ball game.

Then, with the bases loaded with two outs, Sakamoto stepped up to the plate. He fell behind in the count 1-2 before he muscled a fastball over the shortstop’s head into left field to score Curiel and Danny Puplava to give the Corn Dogs three runs in the inning and the 5-4 lead.

On the mound, Mark Tor and Doug Loden worked together in the eighth and ninth to lock down the win and bring the Corn Dogs up to 19 wins about halfway into the season.

Sakamoto, the Macron Player of the Game, went 2-3 with three RBIs and a walk — and the game-winning, two-RBI single.

The Corn Dogs are 19-7 this season and have won three straight games.

Photo by Josh Brunette