Thursday June 25, 2009
Lisle, IL
Tim Wealton
Taylor Dennis took the mound for the Dragons, who riding high on a three-game win streak hosted the first-place Gems of Quincy, IL. Dennis was very effective in the early innings, and received some run support on a 335-foot home run from Sean Flanagan in the bottom of the 2nd inning.
After Dennis loaded the bases with one out, Dennis got the Gem’s designated hitter Brian Farris to pop out to 2nd, and center fielder Luke Schlechte to left, maintaining the Dragon’s 1-0 lead.
Dennis ran into trouble in the 4th inning after recording two quick outs, Dennis would walk in a run with the bases loaded before striking out Gems right fielder Richie Derbak. With the score now tied, the fast paced game came to a screeching halt, after moving through the first 3 innings in just 35 minutes.
Dennis walked center fielder Luke Schlechte in the top of the 5th before allowing a broken-bat single to John Meyers, and a sacrifice fly to Jake Hibberd, running the score to 3-1, in favor the Gems.
Sean Flanagan would move over from first to the pitching mound in a double switch, but allow a run to score on a single to Jordin Hood. Flanagan would get out of the inning on an impressive double play, 4-6-3.
Heading into the bottom half of the 9th inning, the Dragons looked to come back from the 4 run deficit facing the young team. Grounding out to start the inning was Matt Mirabal, followed by a swinging strikeout from Grant Filipitch. Sean Flanagan was able to single to center bring up Dave Reynolds, who quickly grounded out to short.
The Dragons continue their home stand tomorrow night against Slippery Rock. Visit www.dupagedragons.com for ticket information.
