SOUTH BEND -- Aggressiveness at the plate has been a strength for the South Bend Silver Hawks lately. But on Friday night, aggressive swings were a liability.
South Bend, which had won seven of its previous nine games, ran into an even hotter pitcher as Dayton's Josh Smith handcuffed the Silver Hawks in a 6-1 minor-league baseball victory for the Dragons.
Smith, a 6-foot-2, 200-pound right-hander, picked up his fourth victory against three losses. He pitched six innings, giving up only two infield hits. Smith struck out five and walked one.
"I felt like I was getting ahead on fastballs and make hitters hit my pitch (a curveball)," said Smith, who leads the Midwest League with 72 whiffs. "They were a real aggressive team the last time we played them. I just tried to spot my fastballs early and see if they'd put the ball in play."
South Bend's starting pitcher, 6-3 185-pound right-hander J.R. Bradley, matched Smith's zeroes through four innings before giving up two runs in the fifth. Bradley gave up four hits, striking out four and walking four.
Bradley, an 18-year old from Nitro, West Virginia, dropped to 1-7 but has thrown three impressive games in his last four outings. According to Silver Hawks' manager Mark Haley, Bradley's main issue is developing endurance.
"He's not a real strong kid, and he hit that fifth inning and had trouble," Haley said of Bradley. "We're trying to take him over the hump. We brought him out for the sixth, and the ball wasn't coming out of his hand the way we want. He's only 18 years old. He hits that wall, and that's part of maturity."
Haley said he projects great things from Bradley, a second-round draft pick by the Diamondbacks last June.
"J.R.'s got good action," Haley said. "When he gets stronger, he's going to be fun to watch, because he's got great heart and great desire, and he always wants to win. He's getting better and better. I see a lot of good things. He'll compete."
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