Dragons Endure Rain, Cubs
DAYTON – The Dayton Dragons took care of the South Bend Cubs as a soggy Fifth Third Field, 5-4, Tuesday night.
Dayton rallied from a two-run hole to grab a 5-2 lead, and had to hold on as the Cubs posted two runs in the seventh of the shortened game.
Donnie DeWees hit his first professional homer in the third, a two-run shot, to put South Bend up, but Dayton got a pair of doubles in the bottom half from Ed Charlton and Zack Shields to get one back.
A sacrifice fly followed by a Charlton two-run homer put Dayton up 4-2, a Shed Long single later making it 5-2.
Jesse Hodges singled in the seventh to pull South Bend to 5-3, and a fielder’s choice with the bags full left it 5-4. Dragons closer Jeremy Kivel then got a ground ball to end it for the home ‘W’.
Shields and Charlton each had two hits for the Dragons (7-25) while South Bend (18-12) only had nine total baserunners in the game. Cubs starter Ryan Kellogg gave up all five runs in taking the loss, falling to 2-3 on the season. Dragons starter Jacob Constante earned his first win, going five innings.
The two teams will meet again Wednesday for a 7:05 p.m. finale of the series. The rainout will be made up later in the season.