Sports stats



MWL1 Dayton Dragons

Dragons Gameday September 3rd

September 3, 2009 - Midwest League (MWL1)
Dayton Dragons News Release


Today's Game: The Dayton Dragons (affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds) host the South Bend Silver Hawks (affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks) in the second game of a three-game series. Season Series: South Bend 7, Dayton 6, (At Dayton: Dayton 4, South Bend 1).

Dayton in This Series: 1-0 (Team Batting Average: .343; Team ERA: 4.00).

The Race: Dayton will qualify as the wildcard entry in the Eastern Division Second Half race by finishing ahead of South Bend and Lansing in the second half standings. Entering tonight's games, Dayton is one-half game behind South Bend for the spot with five games to play. Lansing has been eliminated.

Playoff Possibilities: The Dragons "magic number" to reach the playoffs is six (any combination of Dayton wins and South Bend losses totaling six would put the Dragons in the playoffs). If they sweep this series with South Bend, the magic number would automatically reduce by an additional one game as Dayton would clinch the tie-breaker. South Bend's "magic number" is five. Their magic number would reduce by an additional one game if they win either of the two remaining games in the Dayton series (one South Bend win in the series would give them the tie-breaker).

Clinching Scenarios: Dayton could clinch a playoff spot by sweeping the series with South Bend and winning one game vs. Great Lakes or getting one South Bend loss to Lansing. They could also clinch by winning two of three vs. South Bend, winning all three games at Great Lakes, and seeing South Bend split their two remaining games vs. Lansing. South Bend would clinch the spot by winning two of three in Dayton.

Last Game: Dayton won the first game of the series with South Bend on Wednesday, 8-6. The Dragons built an 8-1 lead over the first seven innings and then held on as Donnie Joseph entered the game with the tying runs on base and two outs in the ninth. Joseph struck out pinch hitter Victor Estevez to end the game. Dayton finished with 12 hits. Carlos Mendez had three hits and Kevin Coddington hit his first home run of the season and had two RBI.

Today's Starting Pitcher: J.C. Sulbaran (pronounced SOOL-ber-wrong) makes his 21st professional start tonight for Dayton. His last start was Saturday vs. Lansing and he earned the win (5.1 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 9 SO). Sulbaran threw one scoreless inning in the All-Star Futures Game in St. Louis and earned the save. Sulbaran started the season in extended spring training in Sarasota due to a blister problem on his right (pitching) hand. Sulbaran has pitched in some big international games. He appeared in two games for Team Netherlands in the 2009 World Baseball Classic and started a game for the Netherlands in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing against Cuba. Sulbaran moved from the island of Curacao in the Caribbean to the Miami area with his family at age 16 to further baseball career. He was honored as the Miami-area pitcher of the year in 2008, going 11-0, 1.40. He fell to the 30th round of the 2008 draft due to his commitment to the University of Florida. He was rated by Baseball America as the 20th best prospect in Reds organization prior to 2009 season.

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.

Individual Notes

- Alex Oliveras is batting .343 over his last 25 games with 2 HR, 14 RBI, and 18 R.

- Humberto Sosa is batting .359 over his last 22 games.

- Tony Brown is batting .412 over his last nine games and has hit safely in four straight games.

- Miguel Rojas has hit in five straight games, batting .471.

- Cody Puckett has a four-game hitting streak, batting .412.

Team Notes

- The Dragons have won three of their last four games since losing six straight.

Team Batting Notes

- Dayton is batting .316 in the five games on this home stand after batting .202 in the four games at South Bend.

- Dayton is batting .246 over the last 21 games (since August 10), posting a record of 7-14 over those games.

- The Dragons are batting .274 in the second half (64 games) after batting .250 in the first half (70 games).

Team Pitching Notes

- The Dragons second half team ERA is 4.38. The first half ERA was 4.50.

Check out the Dayton Dragons Statistics



Midwest League Stories from September 3, 2009


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central