The Dragons jumped out to a big lead over the first two innings as they scored two runs in the first and five more in the second to take a 7-0 lead.
In the first, Cam Collier blasted a two-out, two-run home run to right field to start the scoring. In the second, Connor Burns drilled a long home run to center field with two men on base to make it 5-0. Later in the same inning, Ethan O’Donnell belted a home run to center, his eighth homer of the year, and Collier followed with an opposite field home run to left, giving the Dragons back-to-back homers for the third time this season, to make it 7-0.
Cedar Rapids scored a single run in the third, but the Dragons responded with a run in the fourth when Hector Rodriguez hustled around to score from first base on Jay Allen II’s single to make it 8-1. Cedar Rapids cut the deficit to 8-2 with a run in the top of the sixth.
In the sixth, Collier drilled a home run to straight away center field with a man on base to make it 10-2. The only other player in Dragons history to hit three home runs in a home game was Juan Francisco on August 19, 2007.
The Dragons added another run in the eighth when Rodriguez doubled and scored on a single by Leo Balcazar to make it 11-2. Cedar Rapids scored two runs in the ninth to close out the scoring.
Dayton starting pitcher Jose Franco earned the win, going five innings and allowing one run on four hits with one walk and six strikeouts. Nestor Lorant, just called up from Daytona, went three innings in his Dragons debut, allowing one run on four hits with one walk and four strikeouts.
The Dragons finished with 16 hits. Collier, who drove in five runs with his three homers, led the way. Balcazar and Rodriguez also had three hits. O’Donnell had a home run and single. John Michael Faile had two doubles.
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