Hotchkiss Solid Again as Dragons Win 5-3

West Michigan (R-H-E): 3-10-2
Dayton (R-H-E): 5-10-0

Winning Pitcher: Jordan Hotchkiss (3-4);
Losing Pitcher: Brayan Villarreal (4-4);
Save: Scott Gaffney (6)

Home Runs:
Dayton: Cody Puckett (18th, 0 on base in fifth inning).
West Michigan: Jordan Lennerton (11th, 0 on base in ninth inning).

Dayton, Ohio-Starting pitcher Jordan Hotchkiss and two relievers combined to scatter 10 hits as the Dayton Dragons defeated the West Michigan Whitecaps 5-3 on Friday night at Fifth Third Field. The win was the Dragons second straight and kept them in a tie with South Bend for the wildcard playoff slot with 16 games remaining.

Hotchkiss (3-4) made his third straight impressive start with the Dragons and tossed shutout baseball over the first four innings before allowing two runs in the fifth. He left after five innings, allowing six hits with two walks and six strikeouts and was credited with the win.

Reliever Chase Ware tossed scoreless innings in the sixth and seventh. Scott Gaffney earned his sixth save, allowing only a solo home run by Jordan Lennerton in the ninth over his two innings of work.

The Dragons built a 3-0 lead over the first three innings. In the second, Carlos Mendez singled to right field to start the inning and scored on Tony Brown's double to center. Brown eventually scored on Kevin Coddington's single to center to make it 2-0. In the third, Cody Puckett delivered a sacrifice fly after a pair of singles by Alex Oliveras and Josh Fellhauer to give Dayton a 3-0 lead.

West Michigan got to Hotchkiss for two runs in the fifth, the first runs Hotchkiss had allowed in 15 innings as a starting pitcher this season, as they pulled to within one at 3-2.

But the Dragons quickly answered with two runs in the bottom of the fifth. Puckett launched a solo home run to left field with two outs, his 18th homer of the year to make it 4-2. Byron Wiley followed with a double to right and Carlos Mendez drove him in with a single to right to build the Dragons lead to 5-2. Ware and Gaffney combined to pitch the final four innings to close out the win.

The Dragons (25-29, 53-70) host the Whitecaps (31-23, 74-50) on Saturday at 7:05 p.m. at Fifth Third Field. Mark Serrano (1-0, 1.10) will start for Dayton. The game will be televised on WHIO Digital Channel 7.2 (Channel 708 on most Time Warner Cable systems). WHIO-TV's Mike Hartsock will provide color commentary.

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