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MWL1 Dayton Dragons

Dragons GameDay

July 20, 2009 - Midwest League (MWL1)
Dayton Dragons News Release


Today's Game: The Dayton Dragons (affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds) host the Beloit Snappers (affiliate of the Minnesota Twins) in the finale of a three-game series and the last game of a six-game home stand for Dayton.

Season Series: Dayton 4, Beloit 1 (Dragons have clinched season series; final meeting of the year between the clubs tonight).

Dayton on the Current Home Stand: 3-2.

Last Game: Dayton defeated Beloit 6-4. The Dragons scored six runs in the third inning, collected six consecutive extra base hits. Josh Fellhauer hit his first career home run and extended his hitting streak to 11 games. Tony Brown hit a two-run homer for Dayton. Carlos Mendez had a double and a triple for the Dragons. Matt Fairel tossed six strong innings, allowing just one run, for the win.

Today's Dragons Starting Pitcher: Curtis Partch makes his 18th start of the season for the Dragons tonight. He won his last start Wednesday vs. Quad Cities (6.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 8 SO). Patch has not allowed a run in his last two starts and has fired 15 consecutive scoreless innings. 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

- Byron Wiley is batting .374 with nine doubles, a triple, eight HR, and 32 RBI in his last 25 games since June 14, posting a slugging percentage of .758 and raising his batting average from .211 to .275. Wiley is batting .384 in the second half.

- Miguel Rojas is batting .487 in his last 12 games (19 for 39) and is hitting .375 in the second half.

- Josh Fellhauer has hit in 11 straight games, going 17 for 44, .386. This is the longest hitting streak of the season by a Dragons player.

Team Notes

- The Dragons need a win tonight to complete their second three-game series sweep of the season (at Quad Cities: May 20-22).

- A win tonight would give the Dragons their first three-game winning streak since June 3-5 when they beat South Bend three straight.

- A win tonight would give the Dragons their first winning home stand of the season.

- After 23 of 70 games in the second half, the Dragons are two games behind Great Lakes and South Bend for the second (final) seed in the second half playoff race.

- The Dragons have scored just 16 runs in the ninth inning this season. Only one other MWL team has less than 22 ninth inning runs (Wisconsin with 15). The Dragons best offensive inning is the first inning, when they have scored 56 runs.

- The Dragons are 6-12 in July with a team batting average of .265 and a team ERA of 6.04.

Team Batting Notes

- The Dragons are batting .279 as a team over the last 31 games.

- The Dragons are batting .275 in the second half (23 games) after batting .250 in the first half (70 games). However, they are averaging 4.3 runs per game in the second half, the same runs/per game average as in the first half.

Team Pitching Notes

- Dragons starting pitchers have allowed one run or less in four of the last five games.

- From Opening Night (April 9) through May 15, Dragons starting pitchers were a combined 4-14 with a 5.87 ERA. From May 15-June 12, Dragons starting pitchers went 10-6, 2.75. Since June 12, Dragons starting pitchers are 10-13, 5.32.

- The Dragons have posted a team ERA of 5.45 over the last 34 games.

- The Dragons second half team ERA is 5.23. The first half ERA was 4.50.

Check out the Dayton Dragons Statistics



Midwest League Stories from July 20, 2009


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