MWL1 Dayton Dragons

Bullpen Shines, Hitters Go Deep for Dragons in 7-5 Win

Published on May 5, 2007 under Midwest League (MWL1)
Dayton Dragons News Release


Dayton, OH - For the second consecutive night the Dayton Dragons found themselves in a tight game with the Kane County Cougars and for the second consecutive night, a two run homer gave the Dragons the lead for good. Juan Francisco's Midwest League leading seventh blast, a two run shot to right snapped a 4-4 tie in the bottom of the fifth inning, propelled Dayton to its eighth straight win with a 7-5 victory over the Cougars in front of 9,268 fans, the largest crowd at Fifth Third Field in 2007.

The Dragons gave starter Travis Webb (ND), who was coming off a 6.0 inning no hit performance in his last start at Wisconsin, was given a 3-0 lead after one inning of play but the left hander could not make the lead stand up. Drew Stubbs got the home team on the board in the top half of the first inning with a lead off homer off Kane County starter Inoel Deaza (LP, 0-5). Chris Valaika hit the first of his two doubles on the night plating Justin Turner, who single up the middle for a 2-0 Dragons advantage. Logan Parker closed out the scoring in the bottom of the first inning with a RBI single to right scoring Valaika.

Webb was perfect in the first inning striking out the side but ran into trouble in the second as Kane County tied the game up a 3-3, on Toddric Johnson's two run double and a SAC fly from Michael Affronti. Kane County took a 4-3 lead with a single run in the top half of the third. Webb ran into pitch count issues and was lifted after 3.0 innings of work, giving up four runs on four hits. The southpaw struck out five and walked four.

Anthony Gressick (WP, 1-1) turned in his best performance of the season picking up the win with 4.0 innings of two hit relief, fanning four and not allowing a run. Dayton chipped away against Deaza with one in the fourth inning to tie the game at 4-4 on Chris Heisey's base hit to left before the Francisco homer in the fifth gave the Dragons the lead for good.

Lee Tabor (ND) contributed some solid innings out of the Dayton bullpen with a scoreless eighth inning, striking out the side. After the Dragons added an insurance run in the bottom half of the eighth inning on a squeeze bunt from Heisey that scored Jason Louwsma, who picked up a one out double and moved to third on a ground out, Affronti pulled the Cougars to within two at 7-5 with a solo homer in the ninth. With two down, Ramon Geronimo (SV,1 ) came in and retired Alex Valdez on a ground out to record the save.

Dayton and Kane County play game three of the four game series on Sunday afternoon at 2:00 PM from Fifth Third Field. RHP Sean Watson (3-0, 2.08 ERA) gets the start for the Dragons, while LHP James Heuser (0-1, 3.65 ERA) will take the mound for the Cougars. 1410 ESPN Radio will carry the game live beginning with the Dragons Pre Game Show at 1:30 PM. Sunday's game will also be carried live on the internet via All-In Broadcasting at www.daytondragons.com.

Check out the Dayton Dragons Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Midwest League Stories from May 5, 2007


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central