July 10, 2008 | LISLE, IL The DuPage Dragons came into their contest Thursday night having scored 25 runs in their last two games. But on this night, the Dragons used another late-inning rally in a come-from-behind victory over the Danville Dans, winning by a score of 7-5. The Dragons are now 14-12 on the season, while Danville dropped to 11-15.
Things looked good for the Dragons early on in the contest. Leftfielder Mark Noth (Belmont) led off the game with a walk, and advanced to second on a wild pitch. He moved to third on a fly out, and then rightfielder Justin Behm (Northern Illinois) walked to put runners on the corners. Catcher Matt Behren (Northern Illinois) hit a sacrifice fly to left that scored Noth, giving Dupage the early 1-0 lead.
The Dragons would add to their lead in the second inning. A leadoff single by third baseman Pete Capetta (Illinois) was followed up by a RBI double off the bat of shortstop Nick Popescu (Bradley). A single by designated hitter Scott Sexton (Oakland) put runners on the corners before centerfielder Dave Reynolds (Northern Illinois) hit a RBI groundout to give the Dragons their third run of the game.
DuPage would take advantage of a couple Danville miscues to score in the top of the third. With one out in the inning, Behm would reach on a fielding error by the shortstop, and a wild pitch would move him to second base. A walk to Behren put runners on first and second before the Dans would record their second out. But they wouldn’t escape the inning before Popescu would get his second RBI hit in as many innings, a single to left that scored Behm and gave DuPage a 4-0 lead.
The Dans finally answered back in the fifth inning. The first five hitters in the inning would reach base in the inning and Danville was able to score all of them. Tyler Park, Zach Walters, Drew Haynes, Chris Lewellyn and Dan Kaczrowski all hit consecutive singles to start the inning, with runs coming in on the last three. After a sacrifice bunt by Brooks Kimmey, Andrew Pollack would hit a two-RBI single and the Dans took the lead at 5-4. Andrew Estes (Oakland), who came on in relief of starter Brad Riegler (Illinois-Chicago) a few hitters before, got David Worthington to ground into a double play and the Dragons were finally out of the inning.
That was the last time the Dans would score on this night, as both teams put up zeroes over the next few innings. The Dragons finally woke up in the ninth, as they started yet another late game comeback. Reynolds drew a walk to start the inning, advanced to second on a wild pitch before second baseman Kevin Tokarski (Illinois State) would sacrifice him over to third. Tokarski was also able to reach base on the play as Dans reliever Lee Swindle, who came on in the ninth, bobbled the rolling bunt. Tokarski was caught stealing a few pitches later when the Dragons tried a fake suicide squeeze, but Noth came through with a laser up the box for a single, scoring Reynolds to tie the game. A walk to Duffy put runners on second and third, but Swindle got the next hitter on strikes for the second out of the inning. Behren would smack a sharp line drive that landed down the rightfield line, moving Duffy to third and scoring Noth to give the Dragons the lead. While on first base, Behren was able to rattle Swindle, causing him to balk to score an insurance run. By the end of the inning, the Dragons owned a 7-5 lead.
Nick Kurash (Miami-Ohio), who came on in the eighth in relief of Estes, pitched a perfect ninth to pick up the win. It was sweet revenge for the Dragons, who were shut out by Danville just a few short days ago. The win also improved the Dragons record to 1-1 in the second half.
The DuPage Dragons return home on Friday, July 11th, when they face the Dubois Bombers at 7:05 pm at the Lisle Sports Complex at Benedictine University. It will be the beginning of a short three-game weekend homestand for the Dragons. Tickets start at $6 with children five and under admitted free. Group rates are available by calling the Dragons' ticket office at 630-241-2255.
