South Bend Tops Dragons 5-3 on Friday

South Bend 5, Dragons 3

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South Bend, Ind.-South Bend's Jordan Hankins collected two hits and drove in three runs to lead the Cubs to a 5-3 victory over the Dayton Dragons on Friday night. The game marked the final road contest of the season for the Dragons, who have three home games to play.

Dayton took a 1-0 lead in the second, getting a pair of doubles in the inning from Paul Kronenfeld and Garrett Boulware to produce the run. But South Bend pitching shut down the Dragons offense until the ninth as the Cubs took the lead with two runs in the third and three more in the seventh.

The Dragons trailed 5-1 with two outs and the bases empty in the ninth but rallied to get the tying run to the plate. Jimmy Pickens singled, went to third on Boulware's double, and scored on an error. Jon Matthews doubled in Boulware to make it 5-3 and bring Jonathan Reynoso to the plate representing the tying run. But Reynoso lined out to center field to end the game.

Dayton starting pitcher Tyler Mahle suffered the loss but strengthened his hold on the Midwest League ERA title. He worked five innings, allowing two runs on seven hits with one walk and five strikeouts. Mahle's earned run average went up slightly, to 2.43, but he still holds a 13 point lead over the next best pitcher.

The Dragons finished with seven hits. Boulware led the way with two hits, both doubles, a run scored, and an RBI. Pickens also had two hits including a triple.

The Dragons (30-36 in the second half; 69-67 overall) return home to close out the season with a three-game series at Fifth Third Field against the Lansing Lugnuts (30-36, 72-64) starting Saturday night at 7:00 p.m. The series will also include a pair of 2:00 p.m. games on Sunday and Monday. Wyatt Strahan (8-10, 2.80) will start for Dayton on Saturday against Lansing's Tom Robson (0-2, 4.94).   

Saturday's game will be televised on WHIO digital channel 7.2 (Time Warner Cable channels 23 and 372). All Dragons games are broadcast on radio on Fox Sports 980 WONE and on the internet at wone.com. Games are also available on the Dayton Dragons mobile app.

Notes: Dragons shortstop Luis Gonzalez suffered a broken ankle on Thursday night on a slide into second base in the seventh inning. He will undergo surgery next week.

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