Dragons rally comes up short Saturday

EASTLAKE, Oh - The Lake County Captains held off a Dayton ninth inning comeback bid and defeated the Dragons 6-5 on Saturday night.  The Dragons trailed 6-0 after four innings and 6-2 after eight, but rallied in the ninth before falling short in the opener to a three-game series.

Dayton’s Sean Buckley became the first Dragons player in 2012 to hit two home runs in a game.  He belted a solo shot in the fifth and connected on a two-run blast in the ninth, giving him a team-leading 10 on the year.  

In the Dayton ninth, Yorman Rodriguez reached on an infield single with one out and Buckley drilled a homer to right to make it 6-4.  After Ryan Wright flied out to center, Kyle Waldrop blasted a homer to right to make it 6-5.  The Captains brought in their closer, Jeff Johnson, to face Dayton’s Spencer Dickinson representing the tying run.  Dickinson hit the first pitch hard to deep center field, but it was caught by Luigi Rodriguez to end the game.

Dragons starting pitcher Wes Mugarian (0-3) worked three and two-thirds innings, allowing seven hits and six runs (three earned) with four walks and four strikeouts to suffer the loss.  Dan Jensen replaced Mugarian and tossed two and one-third scoreless innings.  He allowed one hit and two walks while striking out three.  Lucas O’Rear pitched the final two innings for the Dragons.  He allowed two hits but no runs.

Lake County scored one run in the first inning, one in the third, and four in the fourth to build their 6-0 lead.

The Dragons finished with only five hits including three home runs.  Nick O’Shea had an RBI single in the eighth to go along with the home runs by Buckley and Waldrop.

The Dragons battle the Captains in the second game of a three-game series on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. (WONE 980 AM).  Stalin Gerson (5-7, 4.27) will start for Dayton against Lake County’s Shawn Morimando (4-3, 3.51).