Dragons tales:

Jose Siri’s bat DAYTON — continues to sizzle, but the rest of the Dayton Dragons’ lineup couldn’t come up with that clutch base hit Saturday night.

Dayton lost 6-2 to the Lake County Captains at Fifth Third Field in front of an announced crowd of 8,440. Dayton fell to 42-31 overall and 1-2 in the second-half Midwest League season.

A Lake County team that ranks 14th (out of 16) in runs scored and 15th in batting average strung together a patchwork of runs against four Dayton pitchers. The Captains scored two in the third inning, one in the fifth, one in the sixth and two more in the eighth.

Dayton pulled within 4-2 in the seventh on Siri’s eighth homer, his third in five games. The two-run shot to left also scored Gabriel Ovalle, who drew a two-out walk.

Siri has seven hits in his past 14 at-bats. Five have gone for extra bases with three doubles and two home runs. He also has four RBIs and four runs in that span.

Dayton left nine runners on base against Lake County starter Luis Jimenez and

This was the latest in a continuing drama that reached a low point when the Ohio High School Athletic Association saddled the school district’s athletic programs — boys and girls — with an unprecedented three-year probation and fined the district $10,000 in April.

The OHSAA didn’t name anyone, yet cited DPS in violation of Bylaw 3: administrative and institutional control.

The root cause: two bizarre plays in a regular-season football finale Oct. 28 vs. Belmont. Dunbar appeared to be trying to lose. A video sequence of the plays became an internet sensation.

But Powell said he did not tell his team to lose.

“I never told my team to let Belmont win,” Powell said. “I told my team, guys, we were told if we want to go to the playoffs Belmont has to win this game. I’m not going to tell you to lose the game. I don’t know what to tell you. Just go out there.”

Powell has insisted reliever Justin Garza, who combined to hold Dayton to six hits. The duo walked five as the Dragons stranded nine, going 0 for 11 with runners in scoring position.

Dayton starter Wenning- ton Romero (3-4) pitched five innings and allowed six hits and three runs. He struck out six and walked one. Jesse Stallings and Aaron Fossas combined to give up seven hits and three runs in three innings. Joel Kuh- that Baker told Dunbar coaches to lose the game so both teams would qualify for the playoffs and an academically ineligible Dunbar player wouldn’t have to be reported to the OHSAA. Instead, Dunbar forfeited Weeks 9-10 games and missed the playoffs.

Separate investigations by DPS and the OHSAA resulted in different findings. Superintendent Rhonda Corr focused on the ineligible player. Pete Pullen resigned as Dunbar’s AD soon after. The OHSAA tackled the greater issue of a lack of institutional control and tied the punishment mainly to the allegation of throwing a game.

Powell says he was unfairly targeted. “I think that’s an understatement,” he said. “If (the OHSAA) said (Baker) was to blame, what’s the issue with me?”

And it’s not over. Powell huddled with parents and players in Dunbar’s cafeteria the day after being ousted. It was emotional.

A support group proposed an online petition to have the school board reconsider Powell as coach. In 24 hours more than 1,000 supporters had nel pitched a perfect ninth with two strikeouts.

When Jimenez took the mound.

The right-hander scat- tered four hits and struck out eight in six innings for the win. Three of Dayton’s hits off Jimenez were doubles, including two leading off an inning, but Jimenez left them stranded. He threw 61 of his 89 pitches for strikes.

Jimenez, who struck out a season-high 11 against Fort

Game changer:

signed. Many added blistering opinions.

Former Dunbar head coach James Lacking has been given that role for now, but no new coach has been approved by the board.

This is essentially a final countdown for the preseason, which begins July 31. Any administration will tell you it’s not the time to begin a search for a new coach. DPS said it would reconsider the No. 2 candidate — Lacking — or repost the position.

Darran Powell’s father and uncle are twins Albert and Alfred Powell, both Roth graduates. The twins have been coaching Roth and Dunbar football, basketball and track the past 38 years as assistants. They have been assistants on Darran’s staff. Darran bristles at the mention the Powells must go for the betterment of Dunbar.

“I don’t understand,” he said. “What is the issue of having positive influence?”

The events have taken a toll in other ways for the people involved. Pullen, 62, said he recently had his heart shocked back into proper rhythm, something he also had done in 2010. Albert Powell, Darran’s father, was hospitalized with a faulty heart. Worth on June 13, struck out the side in the third. During a stretch between the third and fifth innings Jimenez struck out seven of nine. Overall, eight different players struck out against Jimenez.

He picked up his first win (1-2) and lowered his ERA to 4.68.

The Dragons managed six hits against Lake County, and they tried to make the most of them. Five went for extra-base hits. Tyler Stephenson had a pair of doubles, includinga leadoff hit in the fourth that landed at the base of the cen- ter field wall 402 feet away. He also had a one-out double in the sixth. John San- sone doubled to lead off the second inning and Michael Beltre had a two-out triple in the seventh.

Dayton lefty Scott Moss (9-2, 2.37 ERA) has been rock solid through 14 starts. The Reds’ fourthround pick in 2016 leads the Midwest League in wins and strikeouts (95). In his last start on June 16, Moss allowed two hits, one run and struck out 11 in 6⅔ innings in a 4-1 win against Fort Wayne.

The Captains are sched- uled to send lefty Tanner Tully (2-5, 3.68 ERA) to the mound. The former Ohio State University pitcher makes his fourth start for Lake County.

On deck:

“It’s tough on me and it’s tough on his dad,” said Pullen, who has led Dunbar to four boys basketball state titles.

“His dad and me, we’re at the end of our stage. We’ve got a great young man (Darran) who’s coming back to support his school and do what he can who had that pedigree of Dunbar and knows to get the kids to do the right thing and get the right attitude. I feel bad for him. He’s struggling right now.”

Baker hasn’t responded to repeated requests for comment since that October game. Powell is also a full-time paraprofessional at Dunbar. He hopes to retain that position.

As Darren Powell’s backers feared, there have been other consequences.

“A lot of people are trying to get at our kids now and trying to tell them to transfer,” Powell said. “They’ve all made the choice to stay and they’re going to work this thing out. We took on the slogan it’s ‘Dunbar vs. everybody’ last year, and it really turned out to be true.”

That figures. Coaches sense things like that. AUBURN HILLS, MICH. — Coach Stan Van Gundy plans to have a talk soon with the newest member of the Detroit Pistons, Franklin High School graduate Luke Kennard, about defense. He didn’t have that chat Thursday after Kennard was drafted or Friday before Kennard spoke at an introduc- tory news conference at the Palace of Auburn Hills.

“We’re going to wait on that,” Van Gundy said with a laugh. “Today’s a day of celebration.”

“It’ll come,” said Kennard, a 6-foot-5 guard.

The Pistons know what kind of offensive player Kennard is. That’s the biggest reason they drafted him 12th in the first round. He scored 1,147 points in two seasons with the Duke Blue Devils. He ranks second in Ohio high school history with 2,977 points.

Kennard’s defense is a bigger question mark. Even he knows that. He’s also con- fident he can become the defender the Pistons need.

“I’m a very confident player,” Kennard said. “I learned that over my career so far just wanting to play defense is a big thing for me. One of the things I want to improve on is strength. That’ll help me offensively a nd def e nsively. I have improved on it. I’m continuing to do that. I think that’ll help me a lot.”

Kennard’s defense doesn’t worry Van Gundy, because he had the same question marks with 18 of the first 20 players taken in the first round. There were no per- fect players in his mind.

“Every single guy on the board, even from the first pick on down, has red flags,” Van Gundysaid. “The number of guys that are great offensive players in college that really apply themselves defensively is a very small number. I’ve watched them all. This is a common theme. It’s not like,

, all these other guys really get after it defensively. Why did you take this guy who doesn’t guard?’”

The strong offensive players like Kennard don’t dominate on the defensive end in college, Van Gundy said, in part because they carry such a big load on the offensive end. Kennard averaged 19.5 points and 2.5 assists per game as a sophomore.

“Luke carried a huge offensive load,” Van Gundy said. “What he did was pretty incredible. This guy had two unbelievable years.”

Kennard credited Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski for turning him into the player he is today and praised Van Gundy, a veteran coach who will pick up where Krzyzewski left off.

“I learned something new from (Krzyzewski) every day on and off the court,” Kennard said. “He was hard on me. He was always talking to me, always teaching me. I’m successful in an environment like that. To play for a coach who approaches things ina similar way, I think I can be really successful. I’m looking forward to learning from (Van Gundy) because he’s a teacher of the game. I’m excited to be a part of that atmosphere.”

The Pistons needed a scorer. Their top scorer last season, Tobias Harris, averaged 16.1 points. Van Gundy sees Kennard as a classic shooting guard.

“The flexibility that Luke provides is he’s a playmaker,” Van Gundy said. “Luke is not just a spot-up shooter. One of the issues we’ve had is we haven’t had a lot of secondary ball-handlers on the floor. It’s really fallen to our point guards to make all the plays off the dribble.

“With Luke, that won’t be the case. You can put the ball in his hands, and he can make plays for himself and other people.”