MWL1 Dayton Dragons

Dragons Gameday for Friday, June 17

Published on June 17, 2011 under Midwest League (MWL1)
Dayton Dragons News Release


Friday, June 17, 2011 * Game # 68

Fifth Third Field * Dayton, Ohio

7:07 p.m. * Radio: WONE-AM 980

Television: WHIO Digital Channel 7.2

Lansing Lugnuts (36-28) at Dayton Dragons (34-33)

RH Casey Lawrence (4-6, 3.97) vs. RH Daniel Renken (2-7, 3.63)

Today's Game: The Dayton Dragons (affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds) meet the Lansing Lugnuts (affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays) in the first game of a three-game series. Season Series: Lansing 2, Dayton 1.

Last Night: Dayton pounded Fort Wayne 14-4 as the Dragons set season-highs in runs, hits (18), and margin of victory. David Vidal hit two home runs and tied a club record by driving in seven runs. Dominic D'Anna became the first Dragons player to collect four hits in a game in 2011. Donald Lutz had three hits and drove in three runs. Dayton had a 9-0 lead by the end of the second inning. Fort Wayne starting pitcher Adys Portillo retired just two batters.

Working Towards a Winner: If the Dragons can go 2-1 over their last three games of the half, they will post their third winning "first-half" in franchise history. The Dragons best first half ever came in 2007 (44-26) with a club that had nine players who have played in the major leagues. They are OF Drew Stubbs, OF Chris Heisey, SS Chris Valaika, 3B Juan Francisco, 2B Justin Turner, RHP Jordan Smith, RHP Daryl Thompson, RHP Marcos Mateo, and LHP Pedro Viola.

Today's Dragons Starting Pitcher: Daniel Renken makes his 13th start of 2011 tonight. In Renken's last start last Sunday at Kane County, he suffered the loss (4 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 3 SO, 2 HR). Renken has allowed one run in five of his 12 starts and three earned runs or less in nine of 12, but he has just a 2-7 record to show for it. Renken was a late signee in 2010 by the Reds after being drafted in June in the 25th round out of Cal State Fullerton. In the spring of 2010 at CSF, Renken posted a record of 12-2 with 3.96 ERA. He tied for fifth in the nation in victories and earned Collegiate Baseball 3rd Team All-American honors while earning 1st Team All-Big West Conference for the second time in his college career. Renken led the Titans in starts and tied for the team lead in victories as Cal State Fullerton finished one victory short of qualifying for the eight-team College World Series, losing to eventual CWS runner-up UCLA in the Super Regional, two games to one. He finished his college career at CSF with a 27-10 record.

Individual Notes

* Dragons in the All-Star Game (Davenport, Iowa; June 21): RHP Josh Smith, RHP Daniel Corcino and 1B Dominic D'Anna.

* Billy Hamilton is batting .319 (22 for 69) with four doubles and three triples over his last 18 games, raising his batting average from .195 to .230. He has 53 stolen bases to set the Dragons club record for single-season and career steals. He leads all of professional baseball in steals. Hamilton led the Reds organization in stolen bases (48) in 2010 despite playing in a "short-season" league.

* Drew Hayes over his last 19 G: 24 IP, 2 R, 0.75 ERA.

* Daniel Wolford over his last 14 G: 23 IP, 4 R, 3 ER, 1.17 ERA.

* Dayton's Josh Smith leads Midwest League pitchers in strikeouts while teammate Daniel Corcino is second and Daniel Renken is third. The Dragons staff leads the league in strikeouts with 59 more than any other team.

Team Notes

* The Dragons have won five of their last seven games. They went 6-4 on their 10-game road trip.

* The Dragons are 31-22 in night games; 3-11 in day games.

* The Dragons' 2.71 ERA in June is best in the MWL. The Dragons had a 1.87 ERA in the 10 games on the road trip.

* Over the last 10 games, the Dragons have posted three shutout wins and allowed only one run in two other games.

* The Dragons have stolen 120 bases to lead all of professional baseball.

* The Dragons have seven shutout wins this season (tied for second most in the MWL behind Burlington's eight).

* Since April 18, the Dragons have held their opponents to two runs or less in 30 out of 56 games (54 percent of games).

* The Dragons have lost only 10 games this season by more than three runs (tied for second fewest in the MWL; Burlington, 8).

* Dayton has outscored its opponents 87-16 in their last 12 wins. Opponents have scored one run or less in 8 of the last 11 Dragons wins.

* Five members of the Dragons roster are rated among the Reds top 30 prospects according to Baseball America. They include shortstop Billy Hamilton (#2), outfielder Yorman Rodriguez (#5), starting pitcher Kyle Lotzkar (#10), starting pitcher Daniel Corcino (#15) and outfielder Juan Duran (#28). Additionally, starting pitcher Daniel Tuttle was named as the #31 prospect in the magazine's special supplement.

Upcoming Probable Pitchers (All game times are Dayton time) (All games on WONE 980 AM and www.daytondragons.com)

Saturday (7:00 p.m.): Dayton LH Tanner Robles (3-5, 6.18) vs. Lansing TBA-TV: WHIO Digital Channel 7.2

Sunday (2:00 p.m.): Dayton RH Kyle Lotzkar (0-0, 4.50) vs. Lansing RH Drew Hutchison (5-2, 2.86)

End of First Half

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