7/25, Dayton 4, Cougars 2

The Cougars would get behind early and try to play catch up and not be able to. They lost 4-2 to the Dayton Dragons. In the begining of the game it looked like this could be a blowout, as Cougar starter Shawn Haviland had nothing.

The Dragons got a great pitching performance from Matt Fairel. He went seven innings, giving up six hits and one run. He walked one and struck out six. Haviland had a really rough first three innings, but his last two were not bad.

The Dragons opened up the game with Josh Fellhauer and Kevin Coddington both getting hit by pitches. Haviland would then be able to get a liner, a fly ball and a caught looking to end the inning without anything coming across the plate.

In the second inning the Dragons would score twice against Haviland. With one out, Mike Konstanty walked. One out later, Miguel Rojas doubled down the right field line to get Konstanty to third. Fellhauer then singled to right to score both Konstanty and Rojas. Coddington would follow with a single to left to get Fellhauer to second. Bryon Wiley then singled to right, Jeremy Barfield would come up throwing and throw out the runner Fellhauer at the plate. I don't think he was out as catcher Dusty Napoleon caught the ball behind the plate, then Fellhauer crashed into him.

More runs for the Dragons in the third. With two outs, Alex Oliveras singled to left, then stole second and went to third on an errant throw by Napoleon. Konstanty and Jordan Wideman both walked to load the bases. Rojas would then bloop a double to right to score both Olvieras and Konstanty. Barfield bobbled the ball a little in right, no error was charged. Fellhauer then walked to reload the bases with two outs. Coddington would ground out to let Haviland off the hook in the inning.

After that the Cougars pitching staff did a nice job. Haviland would give up one more hit in his last two innings. A.J. Huttenlocker then came in and pitched two good innings, he would give up a hit and strike out three. Daniel Thomas pitched very well. He went two innings and gave up one hit.

The Cougars would score twice but the could've easily had more runs. In the third inning with one out, Leonardo Gil doubled down the left field line. Dusty Coleman then singled to left center to score Gil. The other Cougar run came in the ninth. They were down 4-1 going into the inning. Franklin Hernandez led off with a triple to right center. Petey Paramore then hit a sacrifice fly to right to score Hernandez. Napoleon would reach on a dropped third strike. Carlos Arrieche then reached on a fielder's choice, Napoleon took out the second baseman to advoid the game endning double play. The throw from the second baseman went into the dugout, so Arrieche went to third. Gil would then ground to short to end the game. I think Gil was safe on the play.

The only other major chance the Cougars would have came in the sixth inning. With one out, Barfield singled to center. Coming into the inning Fairel had thrown 55 pitches, he really only had two long at bats, both five pitches so far. Mike Spina then did a nice job of fouling off pitches. He would see 13 pitches and draw a walk. Hernandez then grounded one sharply back to the mound. It would knock the pitchers glove off, he recoverd and three Hernandez out at first for the second out. Paramore then grounded out to second to end the inning stranding two runners in scoring position.

Tomorrow vs Dayton @2
Curtis Partch (7-7, 4.68) vs Murphy Smith (0-0, 0.00)


Tomorrow for my will start at 4:30 in the morning as I will ride in the Melon Metric in Plano at 6:30. To follow me in the event please go to my twitter page, http://twitter.com/davidmalamut


{To the Theme from the show M.A.S.H.}
Well another day more injuries to report, this is really getting old. David Thomas is done for the season with a broken pinkie. Mike Hart and Thomas both went home to rehab their injuries. Brett Hunter was sent to the Arizona A's. Jose Guzman was sent back to the Cougars from Vancouver. The roster is at 23 players, 2 shy of the limit.