Stephan and his teammates didn’t see the streak as a few lucky breaks. They felt like a changed team, one playing freely, unafraid of making mistakes, playing for each other.
Stephan believed his team would carry that momentum into the season’s final two six-game series.
“We might win these next 12 games,” he said that day.
Stephan’s prediction came closer than anyone would have bet on. The Dragons won 11 of 12. And they defeated Lansing 3-1 Sunday to finish the season with 18 wins in their final 19 games.
“We were close, man, we were close,” Stephan said Sunday of his bold prediction. “I’m just proud of these guys. That’s why you play. It’s just so much fun to end the year like that. I didn’t think it’d hit me like this. I love this team, and this year was awesome. I can’t thank everyone enough.”
The Dragons finished the season with a 51-77 record and a 31-32 record in the second half. But 2025 – the franchise’s 25th season in Dayton – will be remembered for the 15-game winning streak that began in Lansing on August 17 and ended in Dayton on September 4 in a 5-4 heartbreaker to Lansing.
When the Dragons did the traditional handshake line after Sunday’s victory, hugs were longer, words were heartfelt. Manager Vince Harrison had more to say than usual as he embraced each player.
Then they convened in the clubhouse for their traditional victory meeting and game awards that began this season. It finished with a roar of appreciation for everyone in the room and everything they had been through.
“There’s a lot of emotion in there,” Harrison Jr. said, looking toward the locker area. “It’s not the sadness from losing a game that you feel like you should have won, but there’s definitely some sadness of, man, this sucks, because I really love those dudes in the clubhouse.”
The Dragons, against the odds most outsiders would set, stayed close and committed to success through the constant disappointment of close losses and the many losing streaks. And in the final three weeks they were rewarded with complementary baseball and won five one-run games and three two-run games.
“That was kind of the thing in the beginning of the year that we weren’t getting,” Stephan said. “We’d score eight, let up 10, we’d score zero and let up one. And it finally clicked towards the end of the year and it was fun.”
The fun got an exclamation point Sunday. The Dragons did what they’ve often done in the past 19 games. They scored early and relied on pitching.
Peyton Stovall, a hot hitter down the stretch, singled to start the first inning and went to third on Yerlin Confidan’s double. John Michael Faile hit a sacrifice fly for the first run and Alexander Vargas singled for the second run.
The Dragons added a third run in the fourth on an RBI double by Jack Moss, who batted .337 in his 31 games with the Dragons.
Starting pitching, with the exception of a couple wobbly starts this week, has been on point in the final 19 games. Jose Montero finished the season with his fourth straight strong start to lower his ERA to 3.93. Montero pitched five innings, allowed four hits, struck out four and left with a 3-0 lead.
Brody Jessee allowed a run in the sixth on some soft hits. But Cody Adcock picked him up with a strikeout to end the inning and a scoreless seventh. Joseph Menefee pitched a perfect final two innings to earn his third save.
“It’s been a long journey for us, and to end it the way we did, really just meant a lot to us,” Menefee said. “All the work that we put in, even when it wasn’t good, we were just grinding our way through.”
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