Big Innings Lift 'Caps to 11-3 Win over Dragons

West Michigan 11, Dragons 3

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Dayton, Ohio-Jeff Holm drilled a two-run home run and added a three-run triple to lead the West Michigan Whitecaps to an 11-3 victory over the Dayton Dragons on Wednesday night. The two teams have split the first two games of the series with the rubber match set for Thursday at 7:00 p.m.

Holm, the 2011 Big Ten Player of the Year at Michigan State University, drove in five runs to lead a 12-hit West Michigan attack. His bases-clearing triple with two outs in the sixth inning broke open a 4-3 game.

West Michigan scored one run in the top of the first inning before the Dragons answered with two in the bottom of the inning to take the lead. Beau Amaral walked, stole a base, and eventually scored on Jesse Winker's RBI ground out to tie the game, and Seth Mejias-Brean drove in the tie-breaking run with a two-out single to right to make it 2-1. The Whitecaps regained the lead in the third on a two-run home run by Jeff Holm to make it 3-2.

Dayton tied the game in the fourth when Tanner Rahier was hit by a pitch, went to second on Robert Ramirez's single to right, advanced to third on Wagner Gomez's sacrifice, and scored on Zach Vincej's fielder's choice ground out to make it 3-3.

But West Michigan erupted for four runs in the sixth and four more in the seventh to take a commanding 11-3 lead. Holm's three-run triple keyed the sixth and Mario Martinez hit a long two-run home run in the seventh.

The Dragons finished with six hits. Ramirez and Mejias-Brean each had two. Jeff Gelalich stole two bases. 

Dragons starting pitcher Ismael Guillon worked the first five innings, allowing five hits and three runs with five walks and five strikeouts. Joey Housey (0-1) suffered the loss in relief of Guillon. He pitched two innings and allowed seven hits and eight runs (seven earned) without a walk or a strikeout. Housey suffered from a couple of defensive miscues by the Dragons that prolonged innings.   Wandy Peralta and Ben Klimesh each tossed a scoreless inning for Dayton. Both struck out three batters in their inning.

The Dragons fell to 13-25 on the season while West Michigan improved to 16-20. The Dragons are 3-5 on their current nine-game home stand. The Dragons and Whitecaps close out the series on Thursday at 7:00 p.m. at Fifth Third Field. Pedro Diaz (0-3, 5.30) will start for Dayton against West Michigan's Edgar De La Rosa (1-0, 6.05). Thursday night's game will be televised on WHIO Digital Channel 7.2 (Time Warner Cable channels 23 and 372). All Dragons games can be heard on WONE Radio (980 AM) and via the internet at daytondragons.com and wone.com.

Notes: Robert Ramirez left the game in the eighth inning after being hit by a pitch in the lower leg. No further information was available.