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MWL1 Dayton Dragons

Dragons Gameday for Tuesday, June 14

June 14, 2011 - Midwest League (MWL1)
Dayton Dragons News Release


Tuesday, June 14, 2011 * Games # 64-65

Parkview Field * Fort Wayne, Ind.

6:20 p.m. * Doubleheader

Radio: WONE-AM 980

Dayton Dragons (31-32) at Fort Wayne TinCaps (28-34)

RH Josh Smith (6-3, 1.73) & RH Kyle Lotzkar (NR) vs. RH Matt Cates (1-3, 4.44) & RH Keyvius Sampson (7-1, 2.83)

Today's Game: The Dayton Dragons (affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds) meet the Fort Wayne TinCaps (affiliate of the San Diego Padres) in a makeup doubleheader tonight (rain-out on May 15). Season Series: Dayton 4, Fort Wayne 1.

Last Game: Kane County defeated Dayton 5-4 to salvage a single win in the three-game series and drop the Dragons a game under .500. Dominic D'Anna was 2 for 4 with 3 RBI but the Dragons were limited to five hits.

Playoff Race: The Dragons are 5 games out of first and 4.5 games out of the wildcard slot with 7 games to play in the half.

Working Towards a Winner: If the Dragons can go 5-2 over their last seven 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 Pitchers: Josh Smith makes his 13th start of the season tonight. In Smith's last start last Wednesday at Clinton, he earned the win (6 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 8 SO). Smith has allowed one earned run or less in eight of his 12 starts, and two earned runs or less in 11 of the 12. He has struck out 13 in one start and 12 in another. For the year, Smith has allowed just five earned runs in seven road starts (1.21 ERA). Smith was the Dragons Pitcher of the Month for April (2-1, 0.93 ERA, 5 starts). He is a 23-year-old native of Margate, Florida who was signed by the Reds as a #21 draft pick in 2010 out of Lipscomb University. Smith was an Atlantic Sun Conference 1st Team selection in 2010 at Lipscomb University, where he went 8-4, 4.66 in 14 starts. He finished fourth among all NCAA Division I pitchers in strikeouts...Game Two: Kyle Lotzkar makes his first start of the season tonight. Lotzkar suffered an elbow strain during the final week of spring training and remained in extended spring training until joining the club during this road trip. Lotzkar was the Reds supplemental first round draft pick in 2007 and made 10 starts with the Dragons during the second half of the 2008 season before suffering a season-ending elbow injury in early August. He missed all of 2009 while rehabilitating from "Tommy John" elbow surgery and returned to action last year, making 10 starts and two relief appearances between the AZL Reds and the Billings Mustangs. With Billings in 2010, Lotzkar allowed just one run in 20 innings and posted a walk-strikeout ratio of 2-33. Lotzkar, still only 21 years old, is a native of Delta, British Columbia, Canada. He was rated as the #10 prospect in the Reds organization by Baseball America prior to this season. The publication described Lotzkar as having the "biggest upside of any pitcher in the system other than Aroldis Chapman."

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 .328 (19 for 58) with four doubles and two triples over his last 15 games, raising his batting average from .195 to .228. He has 50 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.

* Jaren Matthews is batting .327 over his last 16 games (16 for 49) to raise his batting average from .210 to .261.

* Bullpen Brilliance: Drew Hayes over his last 18 G: 23 IP, 2 R, 0.78 ERA...Daniel Wolford over his last 13 G: 21 IP, 4 R, 3 ER, 1.29 ERA...Jason Braun over his last 9 G: 13.2 IP, 2 R, 1 ER, 0.66 ERA.

* Dayton's Josh Smith leads Midwest League pitchers in strikeouts while teammate Daniel Renken is second and Daniel Corcino is third. The Dragons staff leads the league in strikeouts with 40 more than any other team.

Team Notes

* The Dragons' 3.03 ERA in June is third in the MWL. The Dragons have a 1.94 ERA in the six games on the road trip.

* Over the last six games, the Dragons have posted two shutout wins and allowed only one run in another game.

* Since April 18, the Dragons have held their opponents to two runs or less in 27 out of 52 games (52 percent of games).

* Over the last 43 games, the Dragons are 20-1 when the opponent scored two runs or less and 1-21 when the opponent scored more than two.

* The Dragons have outscored their opponents 64-10 in their last nine wins (they are 9-10 over their last 19 games). Opponents have scored one run or less in seven of the last nine Dragons wins.

* The Dragons have stolen 114 bases to lead all of professional baseball.

* 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)

Wednesday (7:05 p.m.): Dayton RH Daniel Corcino (7-3, 2.77) at Fort Wayne RH Matt Jackson (3-1, 2.83)

Thursday (7:05 p.m.): Dayton RH Daniel Tuttle (4-3, 4.87) at Fort Wayne RH Adys Portillo (1-6, 7.22)

Check out the Dayton Dragons Statistics



Midwest League Stories from June 14, 2011


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