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MWL1 Dayton Dragons

Dragons Gameday August 28th

August 28, 2009 - Midwest League (MWL1)
Dayton Dragons News Release


Today's Game: The Dayton Dragons (affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds) host the Lansing Lugnuts (affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays) in the first game of a four-game series.

Season Series: Dayton 11, Lansing 5 (At Dayton: Dayton 2, Lansing 2).

Dayton in Last Series at South Bend: 0-4 (Team Batting Average: .202; Team ERA: 4.45).

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 three games behind South Bend for the #2 seed in the second half race with 10 games to play. Dayton and South Bend have three head-to-head games remaining on the schedule.

Club W-L GA/B (#1 2nd Half Seed) GA/B (#2 2nd Half Seed)

Great Lakes 34-26 --- ---

South Bend 29-30 -4.5 ---

Dayton 26-33 -7.5 -3.0

Lansing 24-35 -9.5 -5.0

Last Game: Dayton lost to South Bend 4-2 on Thursday as the Silver Hawks completed a sweep of the four-game series and built their lead to three games over the Dragons in the wildcard race with 10 games to play. South Bend scored all four of their runs in the fifth inning when six straight batters reached safely after one out was recorded. Dayton collected just four hits (note post-game scoring change-Fellhauer credited with hit rather than sacrifice). The Dragons were 0 for 6 with men in scoring position after going 1 for 11 on Wednesday.

Today's Starting Pitcher: Justin Walker makes his second start fifth appearance with the Dragons tonight. Walker last pitched on Sunday against West Michigan and suffered the loss (4 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 SO). Walker began this season in extended spring training and then pitched at Billings when the Pioneer League season began (8 G, 5 GS, 0-3, 4.75 ERA). He joined the Dragons on August 4th). Walker pitched at Lamar University in Texas and was a 41st round draft pick by the Reds in 2008. He is a native of Nederland, Texas.

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 .312 over his last 59 games since June 14 with 18 doubles, two triples, 10 HR, and 48 RBI, raising his batting average from .211 to .272.

- Alex Oliveras is batting .358 over his last 21 games (entire month of August) with 2 HR, 11 RBI, and 14 R.

- Humberto Sosa is batting .349 over his last 18 games.

- Josh Fellhauer has hit in eight straight games, batting .310.

Team Notes

- The Dragons are 3-11 over the last 14 games and have lost their last eight road games since sweeping Lansing on the road 8/7-8/10.

Team Batting Notes

- Dayton has gone a combined 3 for 28 with men in scoring position in the last three games. The Dragons scored just nine runs in the four games in South Bend and hit .202 as a team in the series.

- Dayton is batting .223 over the last 16 games (since August 10), posting a record of 4-12 over those games. The team batting average in the second half has dropped from .287 to .270 during that time and the team batting average in August has dropped from .317 to .263.

- The Dragons are batting .270 in the second half (59 games) after batting .250 in the first half (70 games).

Team Pitching Notes

- The Dragons second half team ERA is 4.43. The first half ERA was 4.50.

Check out the Dayton Dragons Statistics



Midwest League Stories from August 28, 2009


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