South Bend SilverHawks at Dayton Dragons
April 21st, 2002
| South Bend |
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0 |
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1 |
0 |
0 |
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0 |
3 |
0 |
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4 |
8 |
0 |
| Dayton |
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1 |
0 |
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3 |
1 |
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X |
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6 |
12 |
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E-Davis, LOB SB-6, DAY-6, 2B-Davis, Patchett, HR-Nichols (Cotton), SB-Nina, Varner, Encarnacion, Huguet, CS-Janz, Gutierrez
WP-Childress, SO-Garcia, Brand 2, Nichols, Vugteveen, DiRosa 2, Haydel, Davis, Huguet, BB-Hairston, Vugteveen, DiRosa, Gutierrez, Huguet, Lewis
T-2:29, A-7,7755
South Bend Tribune
Good things came in twos for the Dayton Dragons on Sunday afternoon.
Gary Patchett was among five players with a pair of his as Dayton used some clutch, two out hits to post a 6-4 victory over South Bend in Midwest League baseball action.
Patchett added a pair of RBIs as the Dragons broke open a 1-1 game in the fourth inning against South Bend starter Ryan Holsten by tallying three runs after the righthander had retired the first two batters.
All of this action took place after the Hawks had battled back to erase a 1-0 deficit in the top of the fourth.
Scott Hairston got the rally going with a single and eventually came around to score on Jeramy Janez's run scoring hi into centerfield.
Trailing 5-1 in the eighth inning South Bend started on the comeback trail as Lino Garcia brought home Rick Haydel from third base and then scored himself when Kyle Nichols drilled his second homer in as many games to make it 5-4.
It was Patchett to the rescue, though, in the bottom of the frame as the Dayton shortstop provided an insurance run with a two out, RBI double.
Holsten (1-2) allowed five runs on nine hits during his five innings for the Hawks.
Dayton right hander Daylan Childress (2-1) scattered five hits and fanned two over seven innings, while Nathan Cotton recorded the final four outs to notch his third save.
Janz led South Bend with three hits.
Dayton Daily News
Marc Katz
It took a long time for the Dayton Dragons to decide to play Sunday afternoon, and a longer time to get to the bottom of the order, but both waits were worth it.
Rain delayed the start two houts and 15 minutes, about half the time it was actually raining at Fifth Third Field. When play finally began only about 1,000 of the 7,755 who owned tickets took their seats.
They were probably suprised when catcher J.C. Huguet knocked in Dayton's second run and shortstop Gary Patchell knocked in two, including a breathing-room final tally in the eighth as the Dragons beat the South Bend SilverHawks 6-4.
Huguet, who played the least of any position player with the team since season's start, was hitting just .182 in four previous games. Patchett, who had not played since the previous Sunday and had five stitches in his lip from a bad bounce in practice a few days ago, was hitting .231. Patchett's two RBIs matched the duos combined output in that category before Sunday.
Yet in the bottom of the fourth, with two outs and Justin Davis on after a double. Huguet faced a 3-0 count and was givn "the green light" to swing by manager Donnie Scott.
"I normally take the 3-0," Huguet said, "I'm not exactly a great hitter. But I was swinging well in batting practice."
He swung the bat well this time too, lining a hit to left, to score Davis. He moved to second on a delayed steal and came home on Patchett's double to right.
After Domonique Lewis walked and Amaurys Nina singled in a third run, it became one of the biggest innings of the season for the Dragons.
"I felt real good today," Patchett said, "I was more relaxed."
The team seemed relaxes enought to end a three game losing streak, but the SilverHawks scored three times in the eighth with the help of an error and Kyle Nichol shome run to cut the Dragons' cushion to 5-4.
In the bottom of the inning, Edwin Encarnacion led with a single and stole second. Then, with two outs Patchett hooked a single to left to score the final run.
"Anytime you can pad your lead going into the ninth, that's big", Patchett said.
Dragons Tales
Scott is a proponent of adding more screening to protect fans from foul balls.
"I'm tired of seeing kids get hit," said Scott, who was still shaken from a foul ball Saturday night off the bat of Dragons catcher Bryan Prince. The ball was hit so hard, it banged off three people, a man, a woman and a child, all of whom stayed, with ice packs.,br>
"I couldn't believe they stayed," Scott said, "The most amazing thing I ever witnessed was when i was playing in Oklahoma City. A foul ball hit a woman who was 8 1/2 months pregnant. They put her on a stretcher and had to take her to the ambulance from the field. They got her down the foul line and were about to open the gate when they restarted the game.
"And she got hit by another foul ball."