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MWL1 Dayton Dragons

Dragons Gameday August 27th

August 27, 2009 - Midwest League (MWL1)
Dayton Dragons News Release


Today's Game: The Dayton Dragons (affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds) meet the South Bend Silver Hawks (affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks) in the last game of a four-game series as South Bend goes for the sweep.

Season Series: South Bend 6, Dayton 5 (At South Bend: South Bend 5, Dayton 2).

Dayton in This Series: 0-3 (Team Batting Average: .222; Team ERA: 4.81).

The Race: Dayton will qualify for the playoffs by finishing in the top two among the four teams battling for an Eastern Division 2nd Half playoff berth. Entering tonight's games, Dayton is two games behind South Bend for the #2 seed in the second half race with 11 games to play. Dayton and South Bend have four head-to-head games remaining on the schedule.

Last Game: South Bend topped the Dragons 3-1 on Wednesday. Four South Bend pitchers combined to allow just five hits as the Silver Hawks inreased their lead to two games over the Dragons in the wildcard standings with 11 games to play. Silver Hawks pitchers combined for 14 strikeouts. Dayton went a combined 1 for 11 with runners in scoring position. Dayton starting pitcher Jordan Hotchkiss absorbed the loss despite pitching well over six innings, allowing two runs (one earned) on five hits with no walks and four strikeouts.

Today's Starting Pitcher: Mark Serrano makes his seventh professional start tonight. Serrano was drafted by the Reds in the sixth round in 2009 out of Oral Roberts University. He began his pro career with Billings and made three relief appearances (0-0, 1.42, 6.1 IP). He made his Dragons debut on July 16th and made three relief appearances before joining the starting rotation when Matt Fairel was promoted to Sarasota. In his last start Saturday vs. West Michigan, Serrano earned the win (5.2 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 0 BB, 6 SO). Serrano was the 2009 Summit League Player of the Year at Oral Roberts and a 2nd Team All-American, going 9-1 with a 2.50 earned run average. He ranked second in all of college baseball in strikeouts per nine innings, striking out 132 batters in only 86 and one-third innings. He walked only 25 hitters and limited opposing batters to a .196 batting average. He played two years at Cypress Junior College in California and was a Dean's List student at Downey (Cal.) High School.

Skipper: Todd Benzinger makes his professional baseball managerial debut in 2009. Benzinger enjoyed a nine-year major league playing career from 1987-1995 with the Reds, Red Sox, Royals, Dodgers, and Giants. Todd is a former first baseman who recorded the final putout of the 1990 World Series with the Reds to complete their four-game sweep of the Oakland A's. Benzinger is a native of the Cincinnati area and currently resides in West Chester, Ohio. He has enjoyed a highly-successful career coaching girls' high school basketball since 1999.

Individual Notes

- Byron Wiley is batting .316 over his last 58 games since June 14 with 18 doubles, two triples, 10 HR, and 48 RBI, raising his batting average from .211 to .274.

- Alex Oliveras is batting .358 over his last 20 games (entire month of August) with 2 HR, 11 RBI, and 14 R.

- Humberto Sosa is batting .344 over his last 17 games.

- Josh Fellhauer has hit in seven straight games, batting .320. 232-869

Team Notes

- The Dragons are 3-10 over the last 13 games and have lost their last seven road games since sweeping Lansing on the road 8/7-8/10.

- The Dragons are 41-28 when they score the first run of the game; 13-46 when the opponent scores first including 5-19 on the road.

Team Batting Notes

- The Dragons are batting .272 in the second half (58 games) after batting .250 in the first half (70 games).

- Dayton is batting .229 over the last 15 games (since August 10), posting a record of 4-11 over those games. The team batting average in the second half has dropped from .287 to .272 during that time and the team batting average in August has dropped from .317 to .267.

Team Pitching Notes

- The Dragons second half team ERA is 4.45. The first half ERA was 4.50.

Check out the Dayton Dragons Statistics



Midwest League Stories from August 27, 2009


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