Cepeda’s Walk-Off Hit Powers 3-2 Victory, Series Win Over Whitecaps
The No. 24 Chicago Cubs prospect delivered South Bend’s second walk-off win of the year.
SOUTH BEND – The South Bend Cubs (69-47) walked off the West Michigan Whitecaps (55-63) on Sunday afternoon at Four Winds Field, winning 3-2 in the bottom of the ninth. Shortstop Angel Cepeda delivered the winning hit, a single up the left-field line, for the Cubs’ second walk-off win of 2026.
Click here to view Sunday’s box score.
Right-hander Anhuar Garcia made his Four Winds Field debut and his first High-A start for the Cubs, delivering 5.0 innings of one-run ball. The younger brother of former South Bend infielder Reivaj Garcia, Anhuar Garcia struck out four on Sunday, capping his performance by leading a 1-4-3 double play in the fifth inning. The lone run against him came in the fourth inning, as first baseman Beau Ankeney drilled his 23rd home run of the year to left field.
West Michigan worked through a bullpen day on the other side, issuing nine walks for the game but often skirting around major damage. After right-hander Zach Lee opened the game with a pair of perfect innings, the Cubs started the scoring in the bottom of the third, as second baseman Michael Hallquist paid off catcher Justin Stransky’s leadoff walk with a sacrifice fly. Another South Bend run scored in the fourth to retake the lead, as three consecutive nobody-out walks led to another sacrifice fly from third baseman Geuri Lubo. Even with those runs, the Cubs left seven men on base between the third and sixth innings, keeping West Michigan in the game.
The Whitecaps capitalized on the Cubs’ missed chances in the seventh, tying the game on a wild pitch from right-hander Noah Edders. Catcher Edian Espinal scored the run, coming around after hitting a one-out double. Edders still pitched well in his Four Winds Field debut, turning in 3.0 innings with just that one run allowed. The South Bend defense helped him out to keep the game tied in the eighth, as right fielder Ethan Conrad hooked up with Cepeda and Stransky on a perfect relay to cut down the go-ahead run at the plate on a double.
The Cubs wasted little time winning the game in the bottom of the ninth, which started with a single from the pinch-hitting Jose Escobar. He’d reach third on another single from designated hitter Josiah Hartshorn, setting up Cepeda with runners on the corners and nobody out. Cepeda moved ahead in the count and ended the game, pulling a walk-off single into the left-field corner.
With Sunday’s thrilling victory, the Cubs have won at least 30 games in both the first half and the second half this year. They’ll begin their final road series of the regular season against the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers at 7:40 PM ET on Tuesday, August 25.