Dayton Dragons – 17 Hits with One Bat

Dayton, OH — For six straight games, they went to the plate as if lugging the entire bat rack with them.

On Saturday, Aug. 29, for the most part, the Dragons used just one bat, batter after batter after batter.

It worked, too, as the Dragons smacked out 18 hits in a 10-6 victory over Lansing at Fifth Third Field.

It was the second most hits the Dragons have had this summer and was the first time the Dragons have scored in double figures since beating Lansing 10-9 on Aug. 9.

Seventeen of those hits, as well as all their runs, came from outfielder Josh Fellhauer’s MAX bat, a 31-ounce, 33-inch tan stick that finally expired in two pieces and splinters with Kevin Coddington’s ground out to begin the bottom of the eighth. And Fellhauer didn’t even play.

After that, the Dragons went back to their regular bats, but it was too late for the Lugnuts. Every Dragons starter except DH Chase Weems had at least one hit.

“Our clubhouse manager, Corey Brinn, said it was the 10th anniversary of the Angels using one bat to break out of a slump,” Dragons hitting coach Tony Jaramillo said. “We picked out a bat and a back-up bat.”

Second baseman Cody Puckett, who had three hits, including a two-run homer over the center field batter’s eye during a five-run second inning, said the intention was, “to use the bat once through the batting order, but we already had five hits, so we continued to use it.”

Puckett’s homer was his 19th of the season.

The hits piled up, including Kevyn Feiner’s three-run homer in the fifth, which helped negate Lansing’s four-run sixth.

Over their previous six games, the Dragons scored just 10 runs. With the victory, they stay in contention for the final playoff spot in the East Division of the Midwest League, trailing South Bend by two games with eight games to play — including three at home against South Bend beginning Wednesday.

South Bend lost Saturday, shaving a game from the SilverHawks’ three-game lead.

“I didn’t know anything about it,” Dayton manager Todd Benzinger said of the bat. “In the third inning, their third baseman asked me, ‘What’s with the bat?’ I said, ‘We’re like a Little League team. We all use the same bat.’”

Benzinger, who also coaches third, finally noticed every batter used a weighted bat in the on-deck circle, then picked up Fellhauer’s bat from the previous batter.

“All we really have to worry about is playing good baseball,” Benzinger said.

As for the one-bat concept, Jaramillo said he might want to try it again, maybe tonight against the Lugnuts.

Courtesy of Dayton Daily News