The Dayton Dragons offense struggled on Thursday night outside of the top of the lineup. Ethan O’Donnell, Sal Stewart, and Cam Collier each had two hits. The rest of the Dragons lineup went hitless in the loss to Cedar Rapids.
For Cam Collier, his two hits extended his hitting streak to six games to begin the 2024 season, but he also had hits in the final two games of his 2023 season – giving him an 8-game hitting streak. It was the third multi-hit game this season for Collier, who is now hitting .385/.385/.538 on the season. In his six games played he has yet to walk, but he’s also been racking up plenty of hits.
With a 2-hit, 2-RBI night, Cam Collier moved up to 8th in the Midwest League in batting average and 2nd in the league in runs batted in. He’s also 9th in slugging percentage. But he’s doing much better than that in two other categories – Collier leads the league in hits with 10 and he’s tied for 1st in total bases with teammate Hector Rodriguez and Cedar Rapids infielder Rubel Cespedes.
Dominic Pitelli’s big night
The Daytona Tortugas stormed back on Thursday night, hitting two home runs in the 9th inning to score three runs to win in a walk-off. The final homer of the night came off of the bat of Dominic Pitelli. Cincinnati’s 7th round draft pick out of the University of Miami hit a home run earlier in the night, too, but capped things off in the biggest of ways.
Like Collier, Pitelli’s had a hit in every game he’s played to begin the 2024 season. And he also ended last season with hits in his final two games. With five games played this season, he’s now riding a 7-game hitting streak.
The 22-year-old is out to as good of a start as anyone in the Reds farm system this year. Pitelli has more extra-base hits than he’s got games played. He’s hitting .478/.500/.957 with three steals. Pitelli leads the league in average, slugging, OPS, hits, home runs, extra-base hits, and total bases. He’s also second in doubles and runs batted in, and 4th in on-base percentage.