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MWL1 Dayton Dragons

Dragons Comeback Falls Short, Drop Series Finale 6-4

May 11, 2006 - Midwest League (MWL1)
Dayton Dragons News Release


Dayton, OH - Four times in the past seven days, the Dayton Dragons (17-17) have entered a game with a chance to improve their record to two games over the .500 mark. All four times, the Dragons have come up short, and drop back to .500 on the season. That was the story Thursday night as the Cedar Rapids Kernels (17-17) handed the Dayton Dragons a 6-4 loss in front of 8,495 fans at Fifth Third Field. With the victory for the Kernels, the two teams split the four game series and leave the Miami Valley with identical records.

Like the previous three games of the series, the Kernels jumped out to an early lead at Fifth Third Field. Hainley Statia led off the game with a single off the glove of Dragons starter Carlos Fisher (LP, 4-2). Brad Coon's bunt was fielded by Craig Tatum, but his throw to second was high, and allowed Statia to reach third on the error. After Jordan Renz popped out to third base, Dallas Morris delivered a two RBI double to left-center field and gave the Kernels the early 2-0 lead.

Another error led to two more unearned runs for the Kernels in the fourth inning. Flint Wipke hit a groundball to J.D. Reininger at third, but the throw sailed high and allowed Wipke to advance to second. One out later, Travis Schlichting laced a double to left field to make the score 3-0 in favor of the Kernels. Schlichting would steal third base, and come around to score on the RBI single by Larry Infante to give Cedar Rapids a 4-0 lead.

The Kernels made it 5-0 in the fifth inning. Coon hit a one out triple, and came around to score on a RBI single from Renz. Fisher was chased after five innings of baseball, allowing five runs on seven hits, with four strikeouts. Only two of the five runs charged to Fisher were earned runs.

All the while, Stephen Marek (WP, 3-1) was rolling along for the Kernels. Marek pitched 5.0 shutout innings of baseball, allowing just one hit with one walk and five strikeouts.

The Dragons were happy to see Marek leave the game as they would rally in the bottom of the sixth inning off the Kernels bullpen. Tim Didjurgis (ND) got the first two Dragons hitters out in the sixth, but then ran into trouble. Paul Janish reached on a walk, and advanced to second on a single from Jay Bruce. BJ Szymanski followed with an RBI single to get the Dragons on the board at 5-1. After Bobby Mosby walked, Craig Tatum came to the plate with the bases full of Dragons. Tatum delivered a deep double to centerfield, clearing the base paths and cutting the lead to 5-4. However, Didjurgis would settle down and get the final out of the inning, leaving the tying run stranded at second base.

The Kernels added an insurance run in the top of the seventh off Dragons reliever Kyle Huddy (ND). Infante walked to start the inning, advanced to third on a single by Statia, and scored on the RBI single from Coon. This put the lead at 6-4 for Cedar Rapids, and Ryan Aldridge (S, 5) closed the door over the final two innings to preserve the victory for the Kernels.

The Dragons take to the road for a brief four game road trip when they travel to Wisconsin to face the Timber Rattlers starting on Friday Night. The first pitch from Fox Cities Stadium is scheduled for 7:35 p.m. 1410 ESPN Radio WING AM will carry the game live beginning with the Dragons pre game show at 7:00 PM. All Dragons games in 2006 can also be heard live on the internet at www.daytondragons.com LHP Philippe Valiquette (1-1, 5.25 ERA) gets the start for the Dragons, while the Timber Rattlers will counter with LHP Harold Williams (0-0, 0.89 ERA).

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