DAYTON, OHIO – South Bend starting pitcher Oscar de la Cruz fired five no-hit innings as the Cubs defeated the Dayton Dragons 7-4 on Thursday night. The game was the start of an eight-game home stand for the Dragons.

South Bend took a 4-0 lead in the first inning, collecting four hits to take command of the game early. The Dragons could manage only one walk and a hit batsman over de la Cruz’s outing before Dayton’s Mitch Piatnik opened the sixth against the South Bend bullpen with the first hit of the night, a single to center.

South Bend built their lead to 7-0 going to the bottom of the ninth inning when the Dragons erupted for a big inning to make things interesting. Shane Mardirosian walked to start the inning and Nick Senzel doubled to the right field corner to move Mardirosian to third. James Vasquez lined a double to left-center field to drive in both runners and make it 7-2.

Chris Okey followed with a double to right to drive in Vasquez and make it 7-3, still with no one out in the inning. But the next three hitters were retired. Okey did score from third on a ground out from Luis Gonzalez to close out the scoring.

Dragons starting pitcher Alex Webb (1-2) suffered the loss. He allowed four runs in the first inning and then settled in over the next four frames. Overall, Webb worked five innings and allowed five runs on seven hits with no walks and three strikeouts. Ryan Hendrix followed Webb to the mound and worked two innings, allowing one run. Jacob Constante also allowed one run in two innings on the mound.

The Dragons finished with five hits by five different players. Senzel, Vasquez, and Okey each had a double.

The Dragons (14-32, 35-81) host the Cubs (31-15, 72-43) again on Friday at 7:00 p.m.