Sports stats



MWL1 Dayton Dragons

Dragons Come From Behind to Shock Fort Wayne 5-4

September 3, 2005 - Midwest League (MWL1)
Dayton Dragons News Release


Fort Wayne, IN - The Dayton Dragons (28-38, 59-78) were 3-64 when trailing a game after seven innings. The Fort Wayne Wizards (26-42, 64-74) took a 4-0 lead into the eighth inning looking to even the four game series at one game aside. Fort Wayne had a 49-4 mark when leading after seven. The Dragons bats woke up in the eighth as the Miami Valley's team put five runs on the board and picked up an exciting come from behind 5-4 win over Fort Wayne in front of 6,017 at Memorial Stadium on Saturday night.

Fort Wayne got on the board in the bottom half of the fourth inning, scoring three of Dayton starter Homer Bailey (ND). In his final start of 2005, Bailey struck out five to move into second place on the Dragons single season strikeout leaders with 125. The right hander also walked four, including the first two he faced in the fourth. A fly out to right field, moved the lead runner, Nick Hundley, to third base for Tom Vincent. Vincent picked up an RBI with a single to right and Fort Wayne led 1-0. A Matt Bush single to right put runners on the corners with one down. The last batter of the night that Bailey would face was Yordany Ramirez, who tripled into the right field corner knocking home both runners and giving the Wizards a 3-0 lead.

Bailey gave way to Jon George (ND), who finished out the bottom of the fourth inning with a fly ball. The Wizards added another run in the fifth inning as George gave up a lead off double to Matt Thayer. Thayer moved to third on a ground out and scored on a one out RBI single to right off the bat of Hundley to make the score 4-0 Wizards.

The 4-0 Fort Wayne lead looked like more than enough for starter Josh Geer (ND) who cruised through 6.1 innings and left with both the lead and was in line for the win. Geer struck out five and walked four and turned over the four run lead to the Wizard bullpen.

Jonathan Ellis (ND) got the final two outs of the seventh and look to set down Dayton in the eighth. Ellis allowed back-to-back hits to Cody Strait and Bobby Mosby as the Dragons tried to string a rally together. Chris Kroski got the Miami Valley's team on the board with a two RBI triple off the wall in right center. Kroski's third three base hit of the season closed the gap to 4-2. With one down, Jordan Belcher smacked an infield single off Mike Baxter's glove at first base scoring Kroski and cutting the lead to 4-3. Ellis was lifted for Ricky Steik (L, 0-6). Steik walked Jorge Mejia and then hit Jeremiah Piepkorn to load the bases with one down. Trevor Lawhorn picked up the game winner with a two RBI single to center scoring Belcher and Mejia for a 5-4 Dragons lead.

Jared Sanders (W, 1-6) made the lead stand up after coming on to face the Wizards in the seventh inning. With the 5-4 lead, Sanders survived a lead off single and first and second base with one out, as Fort Wayne tried to come back to knot the game at five.

James Morrison (SV, 6) became the first Dragons pitcher to retire a lead off batter on the night when Josh Alley flew out to left field. Fort Wayne had previously put all eight lead off batters of the game on base. Thayer picked up a one out single but was stranded at first as Peter Ciofrone flew out to center field and Hundley struck out to end the game with the tying run on base.

The Dragons and Wizards continue the final four game series of the 2005 regular season at Memorial Stadium on Sunday night with a 7:15 PM first pitch. RHP Juan Frias is scheduled to start for the Dragons in the third game of the series, while the Wizards will throw LHP Brent Carter. 1410 ESPN Radio WING AM will broadcast the game live, beginning with the pre game show at 6:45 PM.

Check out the Dayton Dragons Statistics



Midwest League Stories from September 3, 2005


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