MWL1 Dayton Dragons

Dragons GameDay

Published on May 4, 2009 under Midwest League (MWL1)
Dayton Dragons News Release


Monday, May 4, 2009 Game # 24

Parkview Field l Fort Wayne, Ind. l Ć 7:05 p.m.

Radio: 1410 ESPN Radio WING-AM

Dayton Dragons (6-17) at Fort Wayne TinCaps (17-6)

RH Curtis Partch (1-2, 7.27) vs. LH Rob Musgrave (1-1, 5.50)

Today¡¦s Game: The Dragons (affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds) meet the TinCaps (affiliate of the San Diego Padres) in the finale of a three-game series and the wrap-up to a 10-game road trip for Dayton.

Current Road Trip for Dayton: 4-5 (won two of three in Beloit Wednesday-Friday; split four games in South Bend to start trip).

Season Series between Dayton and Fort Wayne: Fort Wayne 6, Dayton 0.

Last Game: Fort Wayne 4, Dayton 3 on Sunday. Matt Clark broke a 3-3 tie with a home run to center field in the seventh inning for Fort Wayne. The Dragons built a 3-0 lead over the first four and one-half innings, getting solo homers from Carlos Mendez and Miguel Rojas in the fifth. But the Dragons did not score over the final four innings against the Fort Wayne bullpen as the TinCaps scored two in the fifth, one in the sixth, and one in the seventh to win it. Clark had two doubles in addition to his home run.

Today¡¦s Starting Pitcher: Curtis Partch makes his fifth start of the season for the Dragons. He earned his first win of the season in his last start Tuesday in the second game of the doubleheader at South Bend (5 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 3 SO). Partch returns to the Dragons after going 5-11, 5.00 with the club in 2008 when he spent the entire season and post-season on the Dayton active roster. Partch is a native of Merced, California and played at Merced Junior College. He was drafted by the Reds in the 26th round in 2007. Partch finished strong in 2008, posting a 2.78 ERA over his final 10 games (four starts) over the last six weeks of the season. Partch was the Reds Pitcher of the Year in their 2008 Florida Instructional League program.

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 Frank Pfister is 9 for 29, .310 over his last eight games, raising his batting average from .143 to .240.

¡P Relief pitcher Jordan Hotchkiss has not allowed a run over 7.1 innings in his last five games.

¡P Reliever Scott Gaffney has allowed no runs over his last seven outings covering 6.2 innings.

¡P Reliever Aguido Gonzalez has allowed only two base runners over 3.2 innings in his last three games, posting two saves.

¡P Reliever Andrew Bowman has given up only one run in 6.2 innings over his last four outings.

Team Notes

¡P The Dragons need a win tonight to split this 10-game road trip. They are 4-5 on the trip.

¡P Dayton is looking for its first win this season vs. Fort Wayne. They have lost the first six meetings.

¡P Dayton is 5-5 over its last 10 games after starting the season at 1-12.

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

¡P Seven of the Dragons¡¦ 17 losses have come by one run. The Dragons are 2-7 in one-run games (nine one-run games is the most in the league). 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 seven of their 17 losses.

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

¡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)

Tuesday (7:00 p.m.): Dayton RH Oscar Castro (1-1, 5.21) vs. Clinton RH Adam Harben (1-0, 1.06)

Wednesday (7:00 p.m.): Dayton RH J.C. Sulbaran (0-0, 6.75) vs. Clinton RH Kenn Kasparek (1-2, 5.19)

Thursday (7:00 p.m.): Dayton LH Matt Fairel (1-2, 3.20) vs. Clinton RH Walter Suriel (0-2, 5.54)

Check out the Dayton Dragons Statistics

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