Tuesday’s celebration was so nice, the Bowling Green Hot Rods did it twice – after locking up the Midwest League Eastern Division first-half title Thursday.

Bowling Green entered Thursday’s game against Fort Wayne (Ind.) needing a win or a Lansing (Mich.) loss at Lake County (Ohio). The Hot Rods got both with Lansing losing while Bowling Green finished off a 7-2 victory over the TinCaps at Bowling Green Ballpark.

It was the second first-half title for Bowling Green in the franchise’s 10 seasons – with the other coming in 2011. By clinching the first half, the Hot Rods are guaranteed home-field advantage through the playoffs.

“Celebrating twice in a home stand is awesome,” Bowling Green manager Craig Albernaz said. “You can never take this for granted. Winning is very tough in baseball. It’s unlike any other sport. You have to play every day. It’s a testament to them how hard they have worked and how they are bringing it every day. We keep preaching to control the little things and the big things will happen. This is one of the big things.”

Bowling Green (44-22) technically clinched about 30 minutes before its game ended when Lansing lost at Lake County. Albernaz said he knew after he was told by the team’s trainer, Brian Newman, but the players didn’t know.

That result ultimately didn’t matter to the players, who jumped on Fort Wayne early and cruised to the win.

Jim Haley’s RBI single in the second got the Hot Rods going. Bowling Green added three in the third – including a two-run double from Carl Chester – and three more in the sixth – with a two-run single by Moises Gomez and an RBI single by Ronaldo Hernandez to push the lead to 7-0.

Fort Wayne got a two-run homer from Nick Feight in the seventh but was unable to get a runner past first base in the final two innings to give the Hot Rods a win to go with Thursday’s postgame celebration.

“It’s awesome,” Chester said. “You never want to leave it to chance, so we just came in here and took care of business like it was any other day and obviously got the result we wanted.”

Bowling Green finished with 15 hits.

Haley led the way with three hits, while Chester, Gomez, Vidal Brujan, Eleardo Cabrera and Devin Davis had two hits each.

Riley O’Brien earned the win to improve to 4-1, allowing two hits with eight strikeouts over six shutout innings.

PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT

Chester had a big night at the plate, but was also stellar in the field – making the defensive play of the night in the second inning.

Fort Wayne’s Justin Lopez hit a fly ball to the deep right center that Chester was able to get to, running all the way to the wall, holding out his arm to feel for the way before leaping in the air to make the catch midway up the wall.

“It’s actually funny, we were working on those during (batting practice today),” Chester said. “We were timing them up and jumping against the wall. I knew it was a big situation to keep (O’Brien’s) confidence up and let him do his thing like he has all season.”

Albernaz praised Chester’s ability to take what he learned earlier in the day and apply it in the game.

“That’s minor league baseball for you,” Albernaz said. “You work on different aspects of the game, so when you get to the big leagues that it is covered. It just so happens today Chester makes a ridiculous catch out in the outfield.”

ROSTER MOVE

Before the game, right-handed pitcher Alex Valverde was transferred to the Hudson Valley (N.Y.) roster with right-handed pitcher Orlando Romero added to the Hot Rods roster.

UP NEXT

The Hot Rods head to Lake County (Ohio) to open a three-game series on Friday at 6 p.m. CDT. It will be the final series of the first half before the all-star break and the first of seven straight games between the two teams. The Captains will open the second half with a four-game series at Bowling Green Ballpark.

Neither team has announced a starter for Friday’s opener.{&end}