Nwogu Becomes First South Bend Cub to Homer 3x in a Game

August 26, 2022 – Midwest League (MWL) – South Bend Cubs News Release

COMSTOCK PARK, MI – Have a night, Jordan Nwogu.

The former third round pick of the Cubs in the 2020 draft out of Michigan played the game of his life Thursday at LMCU Ballpark. In the first inning he crushed a no-doubter to left to give the Cubs a 1-0 lead, in the third inning he somehow got his hands inside and snuck one out down the left field line, and then in the fifth inning he blasted one out on a line shot right-center. Nwogu entered tonight without a multi-homer game in his pro career, or in his life he said later after the game, but on an overcast August night in Michigan, Nwogu belted three long balls.

He finished the game four-for-five with three homers, four RBIs, five runs scored, and a walk. No South Bend player, since becoming a Cubs affiliate, has ever homered three times in a game and going back as far as we can track to 2005, no South Bend player at all has accomplished the feat.

The Cubs clobbered the Whitecaps 13-3 and picked up their largest margin of victory along the way. After the first two games in this series resulted in 2-1 finals, the South Bend offense came out with gust and kept their foot firmly on the accelerator.

South Bend never trailed after Nwogu’s first homer and Pete Crow-Armstrong played the role of Robin to Nwogu’s Batman, producing a three-hit game, including a two-run homer and scoring three times. PCA homered in the fourth inning to put the Cubs up 7-0 and then Nwogu made it back-to-back jacks with his third round-tripper of the evening.

Through five innings in the game the Cubs one and two hitter combined were 7-for-8 with four homers, six RBIs, and seven runs scored.

But just about everyone on the offense produced a solid line: Luis Verdugo in the three spot went 2-for-6 with two RBIs, Yohendrick Pinango scored twice, Pablo Aliendo finished 2-for-6 with an RBI and a run scored, BJ Murray reached three times, and Kevin Made flourished with a line of 2-for-4 with two RBIs and two walks.

South Bend sent eight men to the plate in the third, nine in the fourth, and seven in the fifth. Between those three framed they produced nine runs and actually left six men on base.

On the other side, any Cubs fan who has watched Luis Devers pitch felt comfortable with their chances as soon as South Bend led 1-0. Devers continued his dominance, dazzling through four scoreless innings, facing just one over the minimum and striking out five. In the fifth inning…