West Michigan scored single runs in each of the first two innings to jump out to a 2-0 lead.
The Dragons tied the game in the fourth when Leo Balcazar opened the inning with a base hit to right field, and Cam Collier followed with a long home run to center field.
Faile followed with a triple to the wall in right-center field, and with one out, Carter Graham blasted a home run to left field to give Dayton a 4-2 lead.
But West Michigan responded with five runs against Dragons reliever Arij Fransen in the fifth inning, keyed by a three-run double by Jim Jarvis, to take a 7-4 lead.
Dayton’s Hector Rodriguez led off the bottom of the seventh with a solo home run to right field to make it 7-5.
In the eighth, the Dragons put runners at second and third with no outs, then got back-to-back sacrifice flies from Connor Burns and Hector Rodriguez to tie the game at 7-7.
O’Donnell was hit by a pitch to start the ninth. He then stole second and advanced to third on the same play when the catcher’s throw skipped into center field. Balcazar struck out for the first out of the inning, and Collier was intentionally walked. Faile then hit a hard ground ball to third. West Michigan third baseman Izaac Pacheco made a good backhanded stop of the grounder and made a quick off-balance throw to the plate, but O’Donnell beat the tag to end the game.
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