South Bend Survives Back-And-Forth 16-10 Battle in Dayton
MWL South Bend Cubs

South Bend Survives Back-And-Forth 16-10 Battle in Dayton

Published on April 22, 2026 under Midwest League (MWL)
South Bend Cubs News Release


Dayton, OH - After being no-hit in Sunday's series finale against the Beloit Sky Carp, the South Bend Cubs found themselves in an early hole in Tuesday's series opener at Dayton. The Dragons scored in each of their first three innings at the plate. With shutdown middle innings bullpen relief, and a game-long comeback effort, South Bend outlasted Dayton in a wild finish down the stretch, taking the first game of this week's series 16-10.

Kevin Valdez got the start for the Cubs, while Reynardo Cruz opened the series on the mound for Dayton. Cruz tossed a 1-2-3 top of the 1st inning, and the Dragons began the night sharply offensively, scoring two runs in the 1st inning. That was followed by a run in the 2nd, and two in the 3rd. South Bend got on the board thanks to a solo homer from Christian Olivo in the top of the 3rd. It was Olivo's first homer in a South Bend Cubs uniform.

Down 5-1 after four innings of play, the pace of the game changed when Ethan Flanagan checked in out of the Cubs bullpen. Coming off a four scoreless inning performance last time out, Flanagan kept South Bend in the contest with three scoreless frames over the middle innings.

South Bend began its march back in the top of the 5th, thanks to RBI hits from both Kade Snell and Matt Halbach in the top of the 5th. After six innings, the Dragons lead was 5-3.

The late innings in when the real craziness began. The Cubs tied the game in the top of the 7th at 5-5, with Kane Kepley bringing South Bend within one, followed by Snell tying the game via a sacrifice fly. For Snell, who drove in eight RBI in the last series versus Beloit, he picked up three RBI tonight. Six different South Bend Cubs players had multi-RBI games.

The two South Bend tallies were answered immediately by Dayton, who swiped the lead back after seven innings at 6-5.

Coming up in the top of the 8th against new Dayton righty Stephen Quigley, the Cubs picked up back-to-back singles from Reggie Preciado and Drew Bowser. Justin Stransky then smacked an RBI-groundout to tie the game again at 6-6. Christian Olivo then walked, as he reached base five times in the game and scored five runs. After Kepley was hit by a pitch, the bases were loaded for the newest South Bend Cub, Cole Mathis. Called up to South Bend from Low-A Myrtle Beach earlier in the day, Mathis made his High-A debut Tuesday, with South Bend Cubs catcher Owen Ayers being promoted to the Knoxville Smokies following the announcement that was named Midwest League Player of the Week. With the bags juiced, Mathis picked up his first Midwest League hit, a double down the left field line to clear the bases. The Mathis double gave South Bend its first lead of the game. To finish the 8th inning rally, Snell drove in Mathis via an RBI-single.

Just when you thought South Bend had taken control of the game, with their 10-6 lead, the Dragons loaded the bases immediately, all on walks, in the bottom of the 8th. The trio of free passes led to Dayton scoring four times, tying the game at 10-10. To South Bend's credit, right-hander Ethan Bell got the Cubs out of that inning with the game tied, as Dayton had the go-ahead run in scoring position.

Right back to where they started, it was a tie game heading to the 9th inning. After both teams sent nine men to the plate in each half of the 8th inning, South Bend had one last rally in them, sending 12 men to the dish in the top of the 9th, almost making a carbon-copy of what they just went through with the Dragons, but this time on their side.

Cameron Sisneros led-off the 9th inning with walk, Preciado singled, and Bowser walked too. With the bags loaded, Stransky was hit by a pitch to score the Cubs 11th run of the game, which ended up being the game-winning tally. South Bend was far from done from that point, scoring six total times in the 9th inning; Which included a Halbach two-run single, plus Kepley scoring on the same play via a throwing error. It was 16-10 Cubs with Dayton down to its final three outs.

Bell remained on the mound for South Bend, and after three straight half-innings where nine or more men came up to the plate, Bell tossed a 1-2-3 bottom of the 9th to secure the victory.

Every Cubs starter reached base at least once in the three-hour-and-10-minute marathon, with nearly all contributing to the 13 runs in the final three innings. Also with the victory, the Cubs remain a half-game ahead of the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers for first place in the Midwest League West Division with a 9-4 record.

Game two of this week's road series is set for Wednesday night at 7:05 PM EST. Right-hander Nazier Mulé will get the start for South Bend at Day Air Ballpark.

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Midwest League Stories from April 22, 2026


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