Bowling Green Hot Rods 10, Dayton Dragons 7

[From Tom Gauthier, Hot Rods Director of Broadcast/Media Relations.]

Dayton, OH – Ty Morrison homered, drove in three, and fell a double short of the cycle to lead the Hot Rods to a wild 10-7 win over the Dayton Dragons on Saturday afternoon. The victory gives the Hot Rods a 2-0 series lead heading into the second game of their Saturday doubleheader.

The Dragons struck first getting a pair of runs against Kyle Lobstein in the second inning. With one out, Josh Garton and Frank Pfister stroked back-to-back doubles to give Dayton a 1-0 lead. Lobstein retired Shane Carlson but surrendered a two-out double to Chase Weems to score Pfister for a 2-0 Dragons edge.

The Hot Rods answered right back in the top of the third by using their speed to create havoc on the bases. Ty Morrison reached on an infield single behind second base and then promptly stole second and third base before scoring on an infield single from Chris Murrill to cut the defecit to 2-1.

Tyler Bortnick followed, drawing a walk to put runners at first and second. On the first pitch to Ryan Wiegand, both runners took off, with Murrill stealing third and then scoring when the throw sailed into left field to tie the game at 2-2.

Dayton answered back with a run in the last of the fourth, again with two outs against Lobstein. Pfister began the inning with a single. After a walk and a pick-off, Cameron Satterwhite produced his first hit of the season for Dayton, driving in Pfister to put Dayton back on top 3-2.

The Hot Rods answered right back in their half of the fifth. Kyle Spraker took a lead-off walk and then scored when Ty Morrison belted a hanging curve over the right-center field wall for his first home run of the season. The blast was Morrison’s second hit of the game and gave the Hot Rods a 4-3 lead.

That edge was short-lived as Kevin Coddington homered against Lobstein to begin the bottom of fifth, tying the game at 4-4. With one out, Dayton put two more runners on base before Shane Carlson delivered a two-out double to left field to push Dayton back on top 6-4.

Lobstein lasted just 4.2 innings, failing to make it out of the fifth. He allowed six earned runs, a new career-high, on eight hits and three walks. He struck out just one, hit one, and gave up his third homer of the season.

The Hot Rods offense refused to give up, bailing out Lobstein over the sixth and seventh to put the game away. In the sixth, they scored four times, starting with a triple by Dustin Biell, who scored on a wild pitch during Eligio Sonoqui’s at-bat. Sonoqui eventually doubled and took third on a balk. After Kyle Spraker was hit by a pitch, Robi Estrada hit a sac fly to center field, allowing a hustling Sonoqui to score the tying run at 6-6.

After the sac fly, Spraker took third when Chase Weems argued the Sonoqui play at the plate. He would score a few pitches later on Morrison’s triple to deep center field to put the Hot Rods up 7-6. Chris Murrill followed with a grounder to first base that was turned into an error, scoring Morrison to give Bowling Green an 8-6 lead.

They tacked on another pair of runs in the seventh, scoring more two-out runs with the help of another Dayton error, their fourth of the game. Bortnick led off the inning with a walk, stole second and took third when the ball sailed into center field. After Wiegand grounded out to first, Mayo Acosta failed to get a bunt down in a suicide squeeze attempt and Bortnick was retired in a run-down between third and home.

Acosta eventually reached on a ground ball, booted by shortstop Shane Carlson. The mistake proved costly as Biell followed with a long home run to right field, his second of the season, to put the Hot Rods in front 10-6.

From there, Jake Sullivan and the bullpen did the rest, as Sullivan pitched three innings of one-run ball for his first win of the season. His only run came in the eighth on a lead-off home run by Pfister. Deivis Mavarez recorded the final four outs for his first save of the season.

Offensively, Morrison led the way with his second four-hit game of the season, falling a double short of the cycle. He had a chance at the cycle but singled in the eighth for his fourth hit of the game. Biell was 2-5 with the home run and a triple. Murrill (two hits) and Estrada (sac fly) also drove in runs. As a team the Hot Rods tied their club record with six stolen bases.

The second game of the doubleheader comes up at 6:07 PM CDT tonight. RHP Kirby Yates (0-1, 1.42) makes his first pro start against Dayton RHP Pedro Villarreal (2-2, 3.46). You can follow the game with Tom Gauthier beginning at 5:50 PM CDT on 1340 AM WBGN and www.bghotrods.com.