Lugnuts rally falls short in tough loss
Published on August 27, 2008 under Midwest League (MWL1)
Lansing Lugnuts News Release
LANSING - Brandon Waring's two homer night was just enough for the Dayton Dragons Wednesday night, as they held off a late Lansing rally to upend the Lugnuts 5-4 before 5,219 fans at Oldsmobile Park.
The Dragons belted back-to-back homers in the opening frame to take the lead. After Zack Cozart's one-out singles, Neftali Soto smacked a home run over the left field wall, putting the Dragons up 2-0. Brandon Waring immediately followed that with a deep solo shot to left-center field to push the lead to 3-0.
Waring added onto his total in the fifth when he hit his second dinger of the game, a two-run blast that just cleared the center field wall, making it a 5-0 game.
All of the runs came off of Jimmy Dougher (3-1), who took the loss for Lansing. He gave up all five runs on eight hits over five innings. Three of the eight hits were home runs.
Lansing's struggling offense was stymied over the first six innings by Dayton's Jeremy Horst (8-2). He surrendered just two hits in his outing, while he fanned six en route to the win.
The Lugnuts rallied in the seventh inning to score twice off of the Dragons' bullpen. Henry Arias walked the first two batters before giving up an RBI single to Manny Rodriguez that put Lansing on the board. Eric Eiland followed that later in the inning with a double into left that plated Kevin Ahrens, making it a 5-2 game.
Lansing added two more runs in the eighth without a hit. Darin Mastroianni reached on a throwing error by Waring to start the frame. He then scored when Jonathan Jaspe reached on a three base error as center fielder Brandon Menchaca dropped a fly ball. Jaspe later scored on a throwing error by the catcher Devin Mesoraco, cutting the lead to 5-4.
Lansing (73-62, 34-31) will play its final regular season home game of the season Thurday against Dayton (64-69, 36-29).
It will be Fan Appreciation Night at the park with several great events surrounding the night. The evening features a Labatt Blue Light Thirsty Thursday, with beer and soda on-sale for $2. Also, the first 2,500 fans into the park will receive an Auto-Owners Insurance Travis Snider figurine giveaway. LAFCU Fireworks will follow the game and fans will be invited onto the field after the fireworks show for a Lansing Board of Water & Light Autograph session with the entire Lugnuts team.
Midwest League Stories from August 27, 2008
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- Smith drives in two more - Quad Cities River Bandits
- Chiefs Losing Streak Hits Four With 2-1 Loss - Peoria Chiefs
- Lugnuts rally falls short in tough loss - Lansing Lugnuts
- Whitecaps Top Loons Again - Great Lakes Loons
- Waring Homers Twice in Dragons Win; Magic Number is Two - Dayton Dragons
- Rattlers Recognized With Field of the Year - Wisconsin Timber Rattlers
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- Gold Medallist Visiting Memorial Stadium - Fort Wayne TinCaps
- Wisconsin's Eddie Warczak 2008 MWL Sports Turf Manager of the Year - MWL1
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- Magic Number down to 1 with 4-0 win over Timber Rattlers - Cedar Rapids Kernels
- Snappers Fall in Extras - Beloit Sky Carp
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