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Bowling Green Hot Rods

Hot Rods Salvage Series Finale at Dayton with 4-3 Win

April 17, 2015 - Midwest League (MWL1)
Bowling Green Hot Rods News Release


Dayton, Ohio - In the final game of a season-opening nine-game road trip, the Bowling Green Hot Rods battled back from a three-run deficit over the final three innings in a dramatic 4-3 victory over the Dayton Dragons in front of a sellout crowd of 8,093 fans at Fifth Third Field Friday night.

Bowling Green (3-6) held Dayton (5-4) hitless over the final four innings, retiring the Dragons last 14 batters to snap its own three-game losing streak and halt Dayton's four-game win streak.

Trailing 3-1 entering the seventh inning, Justin Williams led off with a triple to centerfield and later scored on Grant Kay's sacrifice fly cutting the deficit to 3-2.

Thomas Milone led off the eighth with a stinging double down the right-field line and advanced to third on a wild pitch by Dragons reliever Brennan Bernardino. After Riley Unroe walked and Coty Blanchard fanned for the first out, Jace Conrad beat out a potential inning-ending double-play groundball resulting in a RBI fielder's choice to score Milone and tie the game, 3-3.

In the top of the ninth inning, Nick Ciuffo broke a 0-for-17 slump with a leadoff single to right-centerfield on the first pitch from new reliever Brian Hunter (0-1). Kay then doubled him to third, and Bralin Jackson walked to load the bases with no one out. With the infield in, Cristian Toribio bounced a 1-1 pitch back to the pitcher Hunter, but he could not come up with the ball cleanly, allowing Ciuffo to score from third for the 4-3 lead in what turned out to be the game-winning run.

During the Hot Rods piecemeal rally, reliever Edgar Gomez (1-0) humbled Dayton's offense, penning 3.0 perfect innings with three strikeouts to earn his first victory of the season. Brian Miller came on for the ninth and retired the side in order, including a looking strikeout of Ronald Bueno on a 3-2 fastball to end the game, the series, and the road trip in earning his first save of the year and fourth of his Bowling Green career.

Bowling Green snagged a 1-0 lead in the first inning, following a two-out RBI single from Conrad off Dayton starter Tejay Antone which scored Milone, who opened the game with an infield single.

That was the only run that Antone permitted over a season-high 5.2 innings, retiring 10 straight Hot Rods at one point. The 6-4 right-hander gave up five hits while striking out three and walking none in a no-decision.

Dayton tied the game 1-1 in the bottom of the second inning, when Jimmy Pickens doubled off of Hot Rods starter Hyrum Formo to score Brian O'Grady, who stroked a one-out single.

Over the next three innings, the Dragons ratcheted seven more hits off Formo, including Narciso Crook's two-out RBI single in the fourth for a 2-1 lead, and Avain Rachal's RBI single in the fifth upping the advantage to 3-1. Rachal, though, was the last Dayton batter to reach base.

Formo limited the total damage to three runs, but surrendered a season-high 10 hits in 5.0 innings of work, while walking two and punching out three in his second straight no-decision.

Milone finished with a season-best three hits and scored two runs, while Conrad added two RBI, and Jackson knocked two doubles to increase his hitting streak to six straight games, tying a career-best.

The Hot Rods will play their next nine games from the comfort of Bowling Green Ballpark, first welcoming the Lake County Captains for a three-game set commencing Saturday at 6:05 p.m. CDT. Bowling Green sends right-hander Henry Centeno (0-0, 1.50 ERA) to the mound opposite Lake County right-hander Jordan Milbrath (0-1, 11.57).

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