MWL1 Dayton Dragons

Dragons Win Third Straight over South Bend

Published on June 5, 2009 under Midwest League (MWL1)
Dayton Dragons News Release


Dayton, Ohio-Carlos Mendez and Stephen Chapman each collected three hits and drove in two runs to lead the Dayton Dragons to their third straight victory, a 8-4 decision over the South Bend Silver Hawks on Friday night. A Fifth Third Field crowd of 9,032 saw the Dragons improve to 22-32 on the season and complete a 10-game home stand with a 5-5 record. South Bend fell to 25-27 with the loss.

For the second straight night, the Dragons scored in the first inning to take an early lead. With one out, Miguel Rojas lined a single to center field. Kyle Day singled to center to move Rojas to second. With two outs, Carlos Mendez delivered a hit to center to score Rojas and move Day to third as Mendez advanced to second on the throw. Stephen Chapman followed with a big two-run single to center to drive in both Day and Mendez and give Dayton a 3-0 lead.

The Dragons added two more runs in the third. Rojas again started the rally with a hit to center and Day walked. Mendez singled to left to drive in Rojas and make it 4-0, and Chapman singled to center to score Day and give Dayton a 5-0 lead.

South Bend scored one run in the fifth inning against Dragons starting pitcher Curtis Partch and they added another run in the sixth to make it 5-2.

The Dragons got back in the run column in the seventh when Mendez singled with one out, went to third on a hit to right by Chapman, and scored on Kevin Coddington's sacrifice fly to make it 6-2.

South Bend's Alberto Diaz drilled a two-run home run off Dragons reliever Steven Otterness in the eighth to pull South Bend to within two runs at 6-4.

But Dayton answered with two runs in the bottom of the eighth. With one out, Dave Sappelt singled to right and Yen-Wen Kuo followed with a single to left. Sappelt and Kuo pulled off a double steal to advance to second and third. Day singled off the glove of the first baseman to bring in Sappelt and Cody Puckett singled to left to score Kuo and close out the scoring.

The Dragons finished with 15 hits. Rojas, Day, and Andrew Means all had two hits in support of the three-hit nights by Mendez and Chapman.

Partch (4-3) earned the win. He went six innings, allowing five hits and two runs with one walk and two strikeouts. Scott Gaffney recorded the final four outs without allowing a base runner to record his second save.

The Dragons play in Midland, Michigan against the Great Lakes Loons on Saturday at 7:05 p.m. Lance Janke (1-3, 3.96) will start for the Dragons against Bobby Blevins (3-4, 6.00).

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