Rosario K’s Eight, Loons Takedown Dayton 6-1

Midland, Mich. – Great Lakes Loons (73-50) (28-30) pitching has kept the Dayton Dragons (62-62) (29-29) to 10 runs through the first four games victorious tonight 6-1 on a 76-degree Friday night at Dow Diamond.

Jerming Rosario registered a second straight shutout appearance, going five innings and matching a season-high eight strikeouts. Each of the right-hander’s five innings ended with a punchout. Rosario permitted only three baserunners.

After stranding four runners through the first three innings, the Loons strung together three straight singles in the fourth. Kenneth Betancourt had an 11-pitch battle with Dayton’s John Murphy that saw a base knock and a Damon Keith single put runners on the corners.

Yunior Garcia stepped up next lacing a line drive single to left field that opened the scoring. Jake Vogel, with one out, plated Keith with a sacrifice fly to right field.

In the bottom of the fifth, Griffin Lockwood-Powell made it 4-0 with one swing. Yeiner Fernandez singled with two outs, and Lockwood-Powell followed that up with a 409-foot blast to left-center. The Central Michigan alum is tied with Dalton Rushing for 13 home runs, the team lead.

Great Lakes added two insurance runs due to three wild pitches from Dayton’s Braxton Roxby in the eighth. One of the wild pitches plated Kenneth Betancourt, and Yunior Garcia drove in a second run with an RBI single.

Michael Hobbs, Christian Suarez, and Ronan Kopp combined for the final four innings. After allowing a leadoff home run to Edwin Arroyo, Hobbs generated two flyouts and stranded two runners with a strikeout to close the sixth inning.

Christian Suarez, needed just 10 pitches for a clean seventh inning. Ronan Kopp shut the door, putting down the final six Dragons. Both Suarez and Kopp have a scoreless inning streak of 9.1 consecutive frames.

The series is tied at two, with game five tomorrow Saturday, September 2nd. The first pitch is at 7:05 p.m. The first 1000 fans will receive a Loons Hat presented by Fidelity Investments, and postgame will see a Fireworks Loontacular brought to you by Farm Bureau Insurance of Michigan.

The Great Lakes Loons have been the Single-A partner of the Los Angeles Dodgers since the team’s inception in 2007. Dow Diamond serves as the team’s home and also houses the Michigan Baseball Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit public charity, and ESPN 100.9-FM. For tickets or information about the Loons, call 989-837-BALL or visit Loons.com.