MWL1 Dayton Dragons

Dragons GameDay

Published on April 30, 2009 under Midwest League (MWL1)
Dayton Dragons News Release


Thursday, April 30, 2009 Game # 20

Pohlman Field l Beloit, Wis. l Ć 7:30 p.m.

Radio: 1410 ESPN Radio WING-AM

Dayton Dragons (5-14) at Beloit Snappers (6-12)

RH Leonardo Astorga (0-3, 18.90) vs. RH Michael Allen (0-3, 9.64)

Today¡¦s Game: The Dragons (affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds) meet the Snappers (affiliate of the Minnesota Twins) in the second game of a three game series. Current Road Trip for Dayton: 3-2 (split four games in South Bend Saturday-Tuesday).

Last Game: Dayton 2, Beloit 1 on Wednesday. Three Dragons pitchers combined to allow just two hits and Kevin Coddington¡¦s RBI single in the seventh broke a 1-1 tie as the Dragons won consecutive games for the first time this season (they beat South Bend 6-3 in the second game of a doubleheader Tuesday). Starting pitcher Oscar Castro earned the win, going seven strong innings while allowing just two hits and one run with one walk and four strikeouts. Relievers Andrew Bowman and Scott Gaffney combined to retire the final six batters of the game as Gaffney earned his first save. Kyle Day had a run-scoring single in the sixth for Dayton to break a scoreless tie. The win gave the Dragons their first one-run win of the season after six losses in one-run games. It was also their first win in a game in which they scored less than six runs. They were 0-13 when scoring five or less prior to last night.

Today¡¦s Dragons Starting Pitcher: Leonardo Astorga makes his fourth start of the season tonight. He took the loss in his last start on Saturday at South Bend (4 IP, 9 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO). Astorga is a 23-year-old native of Venezuela who pitched at Billings in 2008. Astorga made 11 starts, going 4-1 with a 2.98 ERA. He allowed three earned runs or less in all 11 starts. He allowed just 11 walks in 11 starts and not more than two in any start.

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

¡P Cody Puckett has hit three home runs in his last seven games and is tied for the league lead with four. Puckett has hit in seven straight games, going 9 for 30, .300.

¡P Kevin Coddington is 14 for 32, .438 over his last nine games, raising his batting average to .389.

¡P Carlos Mendez is 7 for 18, .389 in the five games he has played since joining the club on Friday.

¡P Dave Sappelt has hit in four straight games, going 7 for 17, .412, raising his batting average to .299.

¡P Kyle Day is 6 for 17, .353 with six walks and a .522 on-base percentage over his last six games, raising his batting average to .286.

¡P Humberto Sosa is 5 for 14, .357 with four doubles in his last four games, raising his batting average to .227.

Honors: Dayton starting pitcher Matt Fairel has been named MWL Pitcher of the Week for the week of April 20-26. Fairel went 1-0 with a 1.38 earned run average (13 IP, 9 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 20 SO).

Team Notes

¡P With a win tonight or on Friday, the Dragons will earn their first series victory of the season by winning this three game set in Beloit.

¡P The Dragons can earn their first three-game winning streak of 2009 with a win tonight.

¡P Dayton has won four of their last six games after starting the season at 1-12.

¡P In the three Dragons wins on this road trip, the opponent has combined to score a total of five runs.

¡P The Dragons have scored at least six runs in three of their last six games. They have been shutout twice in the last seven games.

¡P The Dragons have hit five home runs in their last seven games after hitting two in their first 12 games.

¡P The Dragons are batting .258 as a team over their last 11 games after batting .222 over their first eight games.

¡P Six of the Dragons¡¦ 14 losses have come by one run. However, six losses have come by at least six runs including three losses by at least 10 runs.

¡P The Dragons have led by at least two runs in six of their 14 losses.

¡P The Dragons current roster includes seven players who have previously played for the club. They are pitchers Curtis Partch, Andrew Bowman, Aguido Gonzalez, Josh Ravin, and Mace Thurman; infielder Humberto Sosa, and outfielder Brandon Menchaca.

¡P The Dragons roster includes 19 players who played last season with the Billings Mustangs, the Reds Rookie-level affiliate. The Billings team posted a record of 42-32 and won both the first half and second half North Division titles in the Pioneer League.

Upcoming Probable Pitchers (All game times are Dayton time)

Friday (7:30 p.m.): Dayton TBA at Beloit RH Shooter Hunt (0-1, 10.80)

Saturday (4:05 p.m.): Dayton LH Matt Fairel (1-1, 2.61) at Fort Wayne LH Nick Schmidt (1-0, 5.94)

Sunday (3:05 p.m.): Dayton RH Josh Ravin (1-2, 4.50) at Fort Wayne RH Simon Castro (0-1, 4.32)

Monday (7:05 p.m.): Dayton RH Curtis Partch (1-2, 7.27) at Fort Wayne LH Rob Musgrave

Check out the Dayton Dragons Statistics

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