Dayton Dragons at Cedar Rapids Kernels


May 26th, 2004

Dragons
Name POS AB R H RBI
Elvin Beltre CF 3 0 0 0
Chris Dickerson CF 1 0 0 0
Evan Conley 2B 5 0 1 0
Joey Votto DH 3 0 2 0
Ryan Fry RF 4 1 1 1
Walter Olmstead 1B 1 1 0 0
Kyle Smith LF 3 1 1 0
Jeremiah Piepkorn 3B 4 0 1 0
Miguel Perez C 3 0 1 1
Will Hudson SS 3 0 0 0
Ben Himes PH 1 0 1 1
Kernels
Name POS AB R H RBI
Quan Cosby CF 4 0 0 0
Howie Kendrick 2B 3 0 2 0
Bobby Wilson 3B 4 1 1 0
Matt Brown SS 4 1 1 2
Caleb Maher DH 4 1 2 1
Matt Pali 1B 2 0 0 0
Brandon Balkcom RF 4 1 3 1
Aaron Peel LF 3 0 0 0
Tommy Duenas C 3 0 0 0



Dayton 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 3 8 0
Cedar Rapids 2 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 X 4 9 0

LOB DAY-8, CR-6, 2B-Smith, Perez, HR-Fry, Brown, Maher, Balkcom, SACF-Perez, CS-Olmstead, Balkcom

Dragons
Name IP H R ER BB SO Decison
Josh Thigpen 4 6 3 3 0 6 L (3-4)
Rainer Feliz 2 3 1 1 0 2 ND
Derek Hawk 1 0 0 0 0 0 ND
Carlos Guevara 1 0 0 0 1 2 ND

Kernels
Name IP H R ER BB SO Decison
Micah Posey 6.2 6 1 1 3 3 W (6-0)
Aaron Pullin 1.1 0 0 0 0 1 ND
Wayne Hedden 0.2 2 2 2 2 1 ND
Allen Buckley 0.1 0 0 0 1 1 SV (1)

HBP-Kendrick (Thigpen), Pali (Hawk), BB-Olmstead, SO-Conley
U-Nic Monaco, Jesse Redwine
T-2:31, A-1,671

How They Scored

Bottom 1st
Wilson singles, Brown homers to left center.

Bottom 2nd
Balkcom homers to center.

Top 5th
Smith doubles, scores on Perez's sacrifice fly.

Bottom 6th
Maher homered to left.

Top 9th
Fry homers to center off Hedden. Olmstead walks, scores on RBI single by Himes.

Cedar Rapids Gazette
Jim Ecker

Micah Posey has a nice summer job with the Cedar Rapids Kernels. He works every fifth or sixth day, throws 100 pitches, watches TV in the clubhouse and has a good time with his teammates. "It's not bad, I like it," he said Wednesday night after another strong out, "I wouldn't trade it for anything."

Posey raised his record to 6-0 and lowered his earned run average to 2.36 as the Kernels trimmed Dayton 4-3, before 1,671 fans at Veterans Memorial Stadium. Posey, 21, has been remarkably consistent this season while establishing himself as one of the top pitchers in the Midwest League. He's appeared in nine games, and eight times he's allowed two runs or less. He normally pitches six or seven innings, allows one or two runs and gives the Kernels a great chance to win.
"It's comforting to know you're going to get a guy who's going to go out there and throw strikes, will give you innings and keep the game close." Kernels manager Bobby Magallanes said. "He's done an outstanding job."

Posey went 6.2 innings last night, allowed one run and departed with a 4-1 lead in the top of the seventh when he reached 100 pitches, the limit for all minor league pitchers in the Anaheim Angels system. He's happy with the job he's done this year, but looking to improve. "I guess i'm ok with it, I can't be too satisfied," he said, "Sometimes when you sit back and get too satisfied, that's when it eats you up. I think I challenge myself every outing to make the next outing better."

Posey had a 8-6 record with Cedar Rapids last season, making him 14-6 since reporting May 15th, 2003. He'd like to get a promotion to a higher league at some point, but is willing to pay his dues and bide his time. He's not sure what the orgination has in mind. "They keep that stuff to themselves," he said, "They really don't discuss it a who lot.

"Eventually, if you take care of your job and do what you have to do here, it will take care of itself. Everything will work out." said Posey.

Magallanes thinks Posey has a chance to make it. "Right now he's better than a normal pitcher in the is league, " the skipper said. "He's a good pitcher. He's got a chance to pitch in the big leagues."

Cedar Rapids (26-19) jumped to a 4-1 lead on a two run homer by Matt Brown and solo shots by Blake Balkcom and Caleb Maher. It was Brown's 10th homer of the season.

Dayton (19-27) scored twice in the top of the ninth, drawing within 4-3. The Dragons loaded the bases with two outs, but Allen Buckley struck out Evan Conley on three curveballs to end the game and collect his first save.