DAYTON, OH – Mason Neville homered twice off Zane Taylor, Ryan McCrystal drilled a pair of RBI doubles, and the Dayton Dragons (6-5, 45-32) stopped the Lansing Lugnuts (2-10, 30-45), 7-3, on a 94-degree Wednesday evening at Day Air Ballpark.
For the third straight day, the game was played in a heat index over 100 degrees – but, unlike Tuesday and Wednesday, the Lugnuts and Dragons only played nine innings, not 11 innings.
Neville, the Reds’ fourth-round selection in 2025 out of Oregon, had opened the year batting just .155 with two homers in 33 games for Class-A Daytona, but had sizzled with a .418 avg. and seven home runs in the Arizona Complex League to earn a call-up to High-A.
In his first five games with the Dragons, he was just 2-for-16… but he crushed a solo home run to right-center off of Taylor in the third inning to break a 1-1 tie.
Nate Nankil answered with a two-run shot in the fifth to put Lansing up 3-2, only to see Neville lead off the bottom of the fifth with another blast to right-center to tie the score at 3-3. Three batters later, McCrystal lined a double to left-center to score Peyton Stovall, and the Dragons led for good.
Dayton added three insurance runs in the seventh against Gerlin Rosario, thanks to a Julio Carreras RBI double, John Michael Faile RBI single and Marcus Smith safety squeeze.
Meanwhile, the Lugnuts put together a slew of chances against Reynardo Cruz and relievers Jacob Edwards and Graham Osman, but went 2-for-14 with runners in scoring position en route to leaving 11 runners on base.
In the loss, Lansing third baseman Jared Sprague-Lott finished 2-for-3 with two singles, two steals, a walk and a hit-by-pitch. Left fielder Jake Reinisch went 1-for-3 with a single and a walk in his Lugnuts debut.
Right-hander Mitch Myers looks to get the Nuts back on track on Friday night at 7:05 p.m. Dayton counters with lefty Kyle McCoy.
The Lugnuts are on the road until the All-Star Break, next returning to JacksonⓇ Field™ for a three-game series against the Fort Wayne Tin Caps from July 17-19. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05. For tickets and more information, call (517) 485-4500 or visit www.milb.com/lansing.
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