Dragons Pitchers Shut Down Captains; Hunter Blasts Home Run in 4-2 Win

Dragons 4, Lake County 2

Click here for the box score

Dayton (R-H-E): 4-5-0; Lake County (R-H-E): 2-1-0

Win: Bryce Hubbart (3-5); Loss: Josh Harlow (0-1); Save: Brock Bell (7)

HR: Dayton: Cade Hunter (7^th, 0 on base in seventh inning). HR: Lake County: Jonah Advincula (4^th, 0 on base in third inning).

Dayton, Ohio—Dayton pitchers Brian Edgington, Bryce Hubbart, and Brock Bell combined to allow only one hit and Cade Hunter hit a tie-breaking home run as the Dragons defeated the Lake County Captains 4-2 on Thursday night.

A crowd of 7,835 was in attendance at Day Air Ballpark in the heart of the Water Street District.

With the win, the Dragons moved back into first place in the second half playoff race, one-half game ahead of West Michigan, who lost to Beloit on Thursday. There are 27 games to play.

Game Summary:

The Dragons jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Carlos Jorge was hit by a pitch to open the frame, went to second on a ground out, stole third, and scored on Ethan O’Donnell’s ground out to third base.

Lake County tied the game in the third inning on what turned out to be their only hit of the game, a solo home run by Jonah Advincula to make it 1-1.

Meanwhile, Dragons starting pitcher Brian Edgington enjoyed his best game with the Dayton club since arriving from Daytona on July 9. Edgington worked six strong innings, retiring 17 of 18 batters at one point. He walked two and struck out eight, allowing one hit and one run.

The game was still tied 1-1 when Cade Hunter launched a home run to straightaway center field to lead off the seventh inning, giving the Dragons a 2-1 lead.

Big homer for Hunter!! 🤠 #FeeltheFire pic.twitter.com/iV10I2vU9N

— Dayton Dragons (@DragonsBaseball) August 9, 2024

"He started me off early with some sliders that (were not) really close to the zone,” said Hunter. “I got my timing down on the 3-0 heater and he threw another one. Just wanted to get my best swing on it."

After Hunter’s home run, Johnny Ascanio walked to restart the rally, and with one out, Jay Allen tripled off the glove of the right fielder to bring in Ascanio and make it 3-1. Ethan O’Donnell followed by lining a triple to right-center field to score Allen and make it 4-1.

In the top of the eighth, the Captains loaded the bases with no outs against Dragons reliever Bryce Hubbart, but Hubbart struck out Travis Bazzana, the first overall pick of the 2024 draft, for the first out of the inning. Hubbart was replaced by Brock Bell, who got Midwest League batting leader Cooper Ingle to ground out to first base as a run scored to make it 4-2. The next hitter, Angel Genao, lined out to O’Donnell in right, a running catch that ended the threat with runners at second and third.

Bell pitched a perfect ninth inning for his seventh save. The victory went to Hubbart (3-5). Outside of the eighth inning, Lake County had only one runner past first base.

“Edgington, if he gets off to a good start, then it's going to be hard to string things together off of him,” said Hunter. “As far as what makes him good…just attacking with multiple pitches. He located with a splitter and a slider. On top of that, Hubbart comes in, although he had a little bit of a rough one, he still got a big punch out to Bazzana. And Brock comes in, we know exactly what we're getting with Brock on the mound. We knew that we were in a good spot."

"It just takes one little spark and we're going to keep it going. We're excited. We want to make this playoff push, and hopefully we keep this thing going."

The Dragons had five hits. Four of the five went for extra bases including Hunter’s home run, his seventh of the year, triples by Allen and O’Donnell, and a double by Leo Balcazar.

Up Next: The Dragons (23-16, 57-48) host Lake County again on Friday night at 7:05 pm in the fourth game of the six-game series at Day Air Ballpark in the heart of the Water Street District. Jose Franco (0-2, 2.94) will start for the Dragons against Lake County’s Alonzo Richardson (no record). For ticket information, go to daytondragons.com/tickets or call (937) 228-2287.

On the Air: Dragons games on Friday and Saturday this week will be televised on Dayton’s CW (Channel 26; Spectrum Cable channels 13 and 1013). All Dragons home and road games are broadcast on radio on FOX Sports 980 AM WONE. Games can be heard on smart phones, iPads, and other mobile devices via the free Dragons Mobile App, or on a computer at wone.com. Games are also available on HD Radio on 104.7 WTUI HD 2.