Baseball: Captains Take Three of Four From Dayton

Jason Smit smacked his first home run of the year and J.D. Reichenbach threw four scoreless innings of relief to lead the Lake County Captains to 6-1 victory over the Dayton Dragons on Thursday at Classic Park.


The Captains struck early scoring five times in the first inning against Dragons starter Tanner Robles. Robles walked the bases loaded to start the inning and then Jesus Aguilar hit a sacrifice fly that allowed Nick Bartolone to score and advanced the other two runners. Alex Monsalve singled to score Carlos Moncrief and then Smit connected with a three run shot, and the Captains led 5-0. The Captains tacked on another run in the top of the second inning when Tyler Cannon singled home Bartolone to make it 6-0.

The Dragons got on the board in the top of the fourth inning when Yorman Rodriguez hit a lead off home run off of Captains starter Kyle Blair. Later in the inning with two men on, Devin Loman tripled scoring both runners and it was 6-3.

The Captains picked up another run when Moncrief doubled and went to third on a wild pitch. He would score on a sacrifice fly by Tyler Cannon and the lead was 7-3.

Captains starter Kyle Blair (0-0) did not get a decision pitching four innings allowing three runs on six hits, walking two and striking out a season high seven batters. Reichenbach (1-0) came on in the top of the fifth inning and threw four shutout innings allowing two hits while striking out four to collect his first win of the season. Clayton Ehlert pitched a scoreless ninth inning striking out two.

Dragons starter Tanner Robles (0-1) took the loss working only on third of an inning and allowing five runs on two hits while walking three. Jason Braun followed Robles and pitched 3.1 innings allowing two runs on four hits, walking one and striking out four. Pat Doyle pitched 3.1 scoreless innings and Daniel Wolford threw a scoreless inning.

The Captains travel to Bowling Green, KY for a three game series beginning on Friday at 8:05 PM. The Captains will send RHP Tony Dischler (0-0, 37.80) to the mound to oppose RHP George Jensen (0-0, 13.80). The game can be heard on AM 1330 WELW and on the internet at captainsbaseball.com.

The Captains return home for a six game home stand on Monday with a pair of three series with Lansing and Bowling Green.