Dragons 2-short at West Michigan

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich - The West Michigan Whitecaps built an early 5-0 lead and held off a Dayton comeback bid to defeat the Dragons 6-4 on Sunday afternoon in the next-to-last game of the Midwest League season for both teams.  The Dragons and Whitecaps close out the season on Monday at 1:00 p.m.

West Michigan scored three runs in the second and two more in the third to stretch their lead to five runs.  But Dayton close the gap to one with three in the fifth and one in the sixth.

In the Dayton fifth, Taylor Wrenn singled to start the inning and scored on Jefry Sierra’s double to make it 5-1.  One batter later, Junior Arias drilled a home run off the scoreboard beyond the left field fence to pull the Dragons to within two at 5-3.  In the sixth, Joe Terry reached on an error, went to third on Nick O’Shea’s single, and scored on Wrenn’s ground out to make it 5-4.

But the Dragons collected just one more hit the rest of the day.  Trailing 6-4 in the ninth, Wrenn singled with one out to bring the tying run to the plate.  But Whitecaps reliever Michael Torrealba induced a double play ball off the bat of Dayton’s Yovan Gonzalez to end the game.

Dragons starting pitcher Robert Stephenson worked the first four innings and was charged with the loss.  He allowed nine hits and five runs (three earned) with one walk and one strikeout.  Lucas O’Rear tossed two innings, allowing one run on four hits with a strikeout.  Sean Lucas pitched the final two innings, allowing no runs on two hits.

The Dragons finished with seven hits.  Wrenn, called up from Billings on Saturday, went 2 for 4 in his first start.  He scored a run and drove in one.  Arias’ home run was his seventh of the season and his third within the last week.

The Dragons (29-38) battle the Whitecaps (36-33) on Monday at 1:00 p.m. in the final game of the 2012 season.  Ismael Guillon (1-0, 2.55) will start for Dayton against West Michigan’s Chad Smith (0-2, 4.35).