MWL1 Dayton Dragons

Lucas Pitches Dragons Past Beloit, 8-2

Published on August 31, 2003 under Midwest League (MWL1)
Dayton Dragons News Release


Dayton, OH – The Dayton Dragons (26-42, 61-77) spotted the Beloit Snappers (42-26, 74-61) two early runs, before roaring back to score eight unanswered to beat the MWL second half Western Division champs 8-2, in front of an overflow sellout crowd of 8,898 at Fifth Third Field Sunday afternoon.

Kyle Lucas (W, 3-9) ran into some third inning trouble allowing two earned runs to the Snappers as the Dragons fell behind 2-0. A Lucas walk to Keith Bohanan with one down and a single by Callix Crabbe put runners on first and third for Adam Heether. Heether's slow roller up the third line scored Bohanan and moved Crabbe to second for Tony Gwynn Jr. Gwynn Jr. laced a single into right center that scored Crabbe and the Snappers led 2-0.

That would be all Lucas would allow on the day as the right hander tossed a season high 7.2 innings of five hit baseball, striking out seven and walking just one. Matt Mc Williams (ND) came in to get the final out in the eighth inning and blanked Beloit in the ninth to close the game out for Dayton.

The Dragons bats came alive in the bottom of the third as Dayton took the lead for good, just one half inning after Beloit grabbed the advantage. Back-to-back one out walks by starting pitcher Cal Carpenter (L, 3-6) was the beginning of a Dayton rally. With two down and first and second, Ryan Hanigan got the Dragons on the board with a RBI single scoring Jarrod Schmidt. Bohanan made a costly error at shortstop, allowing Travis Wong to reach and load the bases for Matt Boone. Boone picked up two of his three RBI on the afternoon with a single to right that put the Dragons ahead for good at 3-2.

The Dragons continued to knock around Carpenter, who had limited control at best, in the fifth. Dayton scored two runs with out the benefit of a base hit on two walks, a hit baseman, a wild pitch and a SAC fly by Tiago Campos to take a 5-2 lead. In 4.0 innings of work, Carpenter allowed four hits, with one strike out, but walked five, hit a batter and tossed a wild pitch.

Another pair of runs scored in the seventh inning, off Forrest Martin (ND), on Boone's RBI ground out and a double by Campos. Hanigan and Wong led off the inning with back-to-back singles and came home before the second out of the inning was made to put Dayton in front 7-2.

Dayton picked up one more run off Martin in the eighth on Ryan Fry's RBI single that scored Schmidt, who was drilled by a pitch to lead off the inning for the Dragons. Fry's 42nd run batted in on the season closed out the scoring at 8-2.

The Dragons will wrap up the four game series against the Snappers and the 2003 regular season Monday afternoon with the first pitch scheduled for 2:00 PM. 1410 ESPN Radio WING AM will carry the game live with the pre game show beginning at 1:30 pm. Time Warner Television will also carry the game live on Channel 25 in Dayton and surrounding areas. RHP Gorky Batista will make the start for Dayton while Beloit will start LHP Eric Henderson.

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Midwest League Stories from August 31, 2003


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