Lutz lifts Dragons to walkoff win in 10

Dayton, OH - Donald Lutz belted a game-tying home run in the eighth inning and then delivered a game-winning blast in the 10th as the Dayton Dragons defeated the West Michigan Whitecaps 3-2 in 10 innings on Tuesday night. Lutz’s heroics helped the Dragons tie a club record for most victories in a half as they notched their 44th win of the second half, improving to 44-20. The 2007 Dragons went 44-26 in the first half.

Lutz gave the Dragons their second “walk-off” home run of 2011. Dominic D’Anna hit a game-winning homer against Lake County in the 11th inning on May 21.

The Dragons trailed 2-1 when Lutz lined a two-out home run to left-center field in the bottom of the eighth inning. Lutz came to the plate with two outs and the bases empty in the bottom of the 10th and lined another homer to left-center to end the game. The game-winner was Lutz’s 19th home run of the season.

Dragons reliever Drew Hayes (2-2) tossed two perfect innings to earn the victory. Hayes combined with Chad Rogers to give the Dragons five scoreless innings from the bullpen. Rogers threw three shutout frames.

West Michigan took the lead in the first inning on Nick Castellanos’ two-out RBI single. In the fourth, James Robbins belted a two-out, solo home run to left field to make it 2-0. It was Robbins’ 14th homer of the year.

The Dragons got on the scoreboard in the seventh when Tucker Barnhart doubled to right, went to third on a wild pitch, and scored on a one-out single to center by Frank Pfister to make it 2-1, and set the stage for Lutz.

Dragons starting pitcher Kyle Lotzkar worked the first five innings, allowing four hits and two runs with three walks and three strikeouts.

The Dragons collected 10 hits. Lutz and Ronald Torreyes each had three and Pfister had two.

The Dragons travel to Bowling Green, Kentucky to meet the Bowling Green Hot Rods in the start of a three-game series on Wednesday at 7:35 p.m. (WONE 980 AM). Tanner Robles (6-9, 5.71) will start for Dayton against Bowling Green’s Wilking Rodriguez (0-2, 4.55). The next home game is Saturday at 7:00 p.m. against Lansing at Fifth Third Field.

Notes: The Dragons broke the club record for wins in a month by improving to 21-8 in August…The Dragons have not lost back-to-back games since August 1-2…The Dragons are three wins short of the club record for victories in a season (82)…The game provided the Dragons with their sixth “walk-off” win of 2011. The most recent came on August 18 when Torreyes singled in the winning run in the bottom of the ninth over Great Lakes...Lutz enjoyed his third two-homer game of 2011, tying a club record also held by Austin Kearns, Wily Mo Pena, and Brandon Waring.