DRAGONS 9, LANSING 8 (11 innings)
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Dayton (R-H-E): 9-12-1; Lansing (R-H-E): 8-11-1
Win: Jimmy Romano (4-3); Loss: Darlin Pinales (1-2); Save: None
HR: Dayton: Peyton Stovall (7th, 0 on base in first inning); Marcus Smith (1st, 0 on base in fourth inning); Yerlin Confidan (7th, 0 on base in fifth inning). HR: Lansing: Rodney Green, Jr. (8th, 1 on base in sixth inning—inside the park).
Dayton, Ohio—Peyton Stovall doubled off the left field fence to drive in Victor Acosta from second base with the winning run in the bottom of the 11th inning as the Dayton Dragons defeated the Lansing Lugnuts 9-8 on Wednesday night. The Dragons and Lugnuts have split the first two games of the six-game series with both games going 11 innings.
The Dragons had extended the game to extra innings when Yerlin Confidan doubled with two outs in the bottom of the ninth to bring in the tying run.
A crowd of 7,383 was in attendance at Day Air Ballpark in the heart of the Water Street District.
Stovall on his game-winning hit: "I know that when I was coming up, obviously runner on second, no outs. (Manager) Julio (Morillo) and (Hitting Coach) Troy (Gingrich) just kind of told me, ‘I don't care how you do it, we just need a runner on third.’ It gave me a lot of confidence that they had trust in me to swing the bat right there and to get that guy over by swinging it. I was just on fastball. Felt like the first pitch was maybe a little in, wasn't what I was looking for. I got to two strikes, I took a deep breath, and I was like alright, just something to the right side. And you know he just hung a breaking ball and I put a good swing on it."
“The last month, month and a half, for me, it's just sticking to my process. I stop worrying about a box score, just control what I can control and that's sticking to my approach and getting a good pitch to hit and if I can do those things then just let the results take care of themselves. So just continuing to do that and sticking with that so hopefully we come out here and do it again tomorrow."
Recap: The Dragons took an immediate lead when Stovall led off the bottom of the first inning with a home run to right field, his seventh homer of the season.
Lansing scored one run in the top of the second to tie the game, but the Dragons regained the lead in the third. Ryan McCrystal singled with a runner at first and one out to set up a first-and-third situation, and Julio Carreras followed with a line drive double to right center field to bring in a run and give the Dragons a 2-1 lead. Yerlin Confidan followed with a sacrifice fly to left field to bring in McCrystal and make it 3-1.
Lansing produced one run in the top of the fourth to pull to within one, but Dayton’s Marcus Smith belted a solo home run in the bottom of the fourth extend the Dragons lead to 4-2. Smith’s homer came in his first game in the Cincinnati Reds organization after he was signed out of independent professional baseball. Smith became the second Dragons player in the last seven days to hit a home run in his first game with the team, joining Mason Neville.
Lansing scored two runs in the top of the fifth to even the score at 4-4 before Dayton’s Yerlin Confidan connected on a solo home run to right field in the bottom half of the same inning to put the Dragons back in front, 5-4. The homer was Confidan’s seventh of the season.
But Lansing took their first lead of the night in the sixth inning. With a runner on base and one out, Rodney Green, Jr. hit a sinking liner to center field. Marcus Smith made a diving attempt at catching the ball on the fly, but it got past him and bounced to the fence. Green circled the bases for an inside-the-park home run to give Lansing a 6-5 lead.
The Lugnuts added another run in the top of the seventh to extend their lead to 7-5.
In the bottom of the seventh, Dayton’s Ryan McCrystal opened the inning with a double to left. With one out, McCrystal scored from second on a base hit through the middle by Yerlin Confidan to pull the Dragons to within a run at 7-6.
The Dragons still trailed by the same margin when they came to the plate in the bottom of the ninth inning. McCrystal collected his fourth hit of the night, a one-out single, to put the tying run on base. Pinch runner Johnny Ascanio replaced McCrystal. Ascanio advanced to second base on Carreras’ check swing bouncer to the pitcher. With two outs, Confidan drilled a liner off the left-center field fence to bring in Ascanio and tie the game, sending it to extra innings for the second straight night.
The Lugnuts scored one run in the top of the 10th and the Dragons matched that in the bottom of the inning. Tyson Lewis’ sacrifice moved the free runner to third and Marcus Smith brought him in with a sacrifice fly.
Dayton reliever Jimmy Romano worked a scoreless top of the 11th inning, putting the Dragons in position to win the game in the bottom of the inning.
With free runner Victor Acosta at second, Stovall blasted a 1-2 pitch off the left field fence to drive in Acosta and give the Dragons their third walk-off win of the season.
The Dragons finished the night with 12 hits. McCrystal was 4 for 5 with two doubles. Confidan was 3 for 4 with a home run, game-tying double, and four runs batted in. Stovall had two hits including a homer and game-winning double.
Up Next: The Dragons (5-5, 44-32) host the Lugnuts (2-9, 31-44) in the third game of the six-game series on Thursday at 7:05 pm at Day Air Ballpark in the heart of the Water Street District. Reynardo Cruz (3-3, 5.74) is scheduled to start for the Dragons against Lansing’s Zane Taylor (5-4, 3.24). For ticket information, go to daytondragons.com/tickets or call (937) 228-2287.
On the Air: Thursday’s game will be televised over-the-air in the Dayton market on Dayton’s CW (Channel 26; Spectrum Cable channels 13 and 1013). All Dragons home and road games are broadcast on radio on FOX Sports 980 AM WONE. Games can be heard on smart phones, iPads, and other mobile devices via the free Dragons Mobile App, or on a computer at wone.com. Games are also available on HD Radio on 104.7 WTUI HD 2.
