DAYTON — So their own bats do work.

Sunday, Aug. 30, one day after the Dragons experimented with using one bat in a game against Lansing, they went back to their usual practice of every man using his own bat.

That worked as well, with the Dragons defeating the Lugnuts 8-2 at Fifth Third Field.

Ironically, Josh Fellhauer, whose bat was used and broken on Saturday, did not play in that game and had to play Sunday without his bat, since the one broken was the last good one he had.

Instead, he used a bat he uses for batting practice, and the first three times he batted, Fellhauer cracked out three singles.

“It’s not important,” Fellhauer said when asked if a specific bat is really necessary. “It’s not important at all. It’s a confidence thing. If you’ve got your weapon, you feel better.”

Alex Oliveras also used a different bat, scoring twice and knocking in two runs with a single in the second.

The Dragons cracked out 18 hits on Saturday, 17 of them with Fellhauer’s bat. Sunday, they added 12 more hits while moving a game closer to South Bend for the final playoff spot in the East. The Dragons are a game behind the SilverHawks with seven to play — three of them here with South Bend beginning Wednesday.

Dragons manager Todd Benzinger chuckled when talking about bats.

“Do you want a bat that’s the perfect weight and the perfect color and feels right in your hand, or do you want one that looks like you know what and you get two hits with it?” Benzinger said. “You want the bat with two hits.”

You also want to get those hits in games that mean something.

“We’ve made that last series with South Bend relevant again,” Benzinger said. “But we’ve got one more with Lansing, too.”

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2157 or mkatz@DaytonDailyNews.com.