June 15th 2009, Slippery Rock, PA - With their two game winning streak on the line, the Dragon’s arrived in Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania looking to take out the 6-3 Slippery Rock Sliders. The Dragons sent pitcher Tom Zelasko (Northern Illinois, Orland Park) to the mound to take on the Eastern Division’s best team.
It was Zelasko’s first start of the year, and he was up against hard throwing righty Cory Mazoni (North Caronlia State). Zelasko worked his way in and out of trouble early, allowing Sliders to reach second base in each of the first four innings, but each time stranding at least a runner in scoring position. Zelasko finished the night with six innings pitched, 5 hits, 2 strikeouts, and 0 earned runs.
The Dragons bats finally came alive against Mazoni in the fourth inning. Clean up hitter Sean Flanagan(University of Iowa, Downers Grove) smoked a leadoff triple down the right field line. The next batter Grant Fillipitch (Butler University, LaGrange Park) drove him in with a fielder’s choice groundout, and the Dragons had a 1-0 lead after the fourth.
The Dragons held the lead until the 7th inning, when Sliders short stop Nick Spisak (West Chester) knocked in leadoff hitter Matt Howard. The home team had been able to get a runner to second base in every inning, and finally capitalized with a run. With Zelasko off the hook, it was now Dragon’s pitcher Brad Riegler’s (University of Illinois at Chicago, Downer’s Grove) game to win or lose.
With the score still tied up at 3, and Flanagan on third, Dave Reynolds (Northern Illinois University, Orland Park) stepped to the plate in the 8th. With two outs, Reynolds sent a slow roller up the first base line, and Slider first basemen Jacob Petkac (Ashland) grabbed it. As Petkac narrowly missed Reynolds lunging for the first base bag, Flanagan crossed home. All runners were safe, and the Dragons again had the lead 2-1. Cole Tyrell (Dayton, Minooka) followed with an RBI single in the 9th, and the Dragons were up 3-1 going in the bottom of the inning.
Unfortunately, the Dragons couldn’t hold the lead. Spisak and Charlie Kelly (West Chester) both drove in runs for the Sliders in the 9th to send the game into extras. It was Flanagan who pitched the scoreless 10th, 11th, 12th, and 13th, while striking out 3 and not allowing a hit. Matt Kleifges (Xavier University, Naperville) was the hero off the bench with the game winning in the top of the 13th and the Dragons won by a score of 4-3. Flanagan was credited with the win
The next Dragons game will be Tuesday, June 16th at the Butler Blue Sox. Game time is set for 7:05 pm. Go to dupagedragons.com to listen live.
