Dayton Dragons pitching coach Tom Browning has had a small place in the Baseball Hall of Fame for almost 24 years. Somewhere down in the vault is a ball or a hat from his perfect game in 1988 — he’s not sure what exactly — that were once on display for all to see.

Until last weekend, when his former Reds teammate Barry Larkin was inducted, Browning himself hadn’t been there in 38 years.

Browning’s parents took him to Cooperstown in 1974 when he was 14 after they had moved from Wyoming to Utica, N.Y. He remembers he had a cast on his ankle because he had broken it playing basketball and that he got the autographs of Hank Aaron and Mickey Mantle.

This time, he talked to or hung out with a who’s who of baseball: his old managers, Pete Rose and Lou Piniella; and greats from his era like George Brett, Paul Molitor and Wade Boggs. Browning even got to visit with Hollywood’s biggest Reds fan, Charlie Sheen.

As Sheen might say, there was one word to describe Browning’s weekend: “Winning.”

“I was like a kid in a candy store,” Browning said. “I went into the Hall of Fame, and I saw a Hall of Famer every time I turned my head.”

Larkin mentioned Browning and many of the other 1990 Reds in his speech, but Browning didn’t get to visit with Larkin for long.

“He had so many people clawing at him,” Browning said. “I just said, ‘I’m proud of you. Enjoy yourself. Congratulations. I’m going to sit back and watch.’”

The Dragons lost twice while Browning was away. He talked Monday with Dan Jensen, who started Sunday and gave up five runs in 4 2/3 innings.

“I’m sure everything in the first inning was up,” Browning said. “Those guys, the velocity kills them. They try to throw hard, and the ball goes up, and when the ball goes up, the ball goes out.”

Dragons avoid sweep

The Dragons used pitching and power to beat Kane County 5-1 on Monday at Fifth Third Field. The Dragons finished 2-4 on the homestand and have lost two out of three games in their last four series.

“It was good to get a win tonight,” manager Delino DeShields said. “It starts with pitching.”

Stalin Gerson had one of his best starts of the season, allowing one run on five hits with no walks and five strikeouts in six innings.

“He didn’t pitch behind the count,” DeShields said. “He was able to go to his off-speed stuff pretty affectively. When he works ahead in the count, he’s pretty good.”

Joe Terry hit a solo home run, his fourth of the year, in the second, and Juan Perez hit a two-run shot, his sixth, in the fifth.

Mike Dennhardt threw a scoreless ninth and has now pitched 11 straight scoreless innings over seven relief appearances.

Dayton begins at three-game series at Great Lakes on Wednesday.