By the Daily News

The Bowling Green Hot Rods moved back into sole possession of first place in the Midwest League Eastern Division on Monday with a 7-2 win at South Bend (Ind.).

Bowling Green (72-53, 34-23 second half) scored the first seven runs and pitchers Kevin Brandt and Jose Molina made it stand, giving the Hot Rods a one-game lead over the Silver Hawks.

Bowling Green holds a three-game lead in the wild-card over Dayton (Ohio) and now has a magic number of 11 to clinch a playoff spot.

The Hot Rods scored in each of the first four frames Monday. 

Two errors fueled a three-run rally in the first. The Hot Rods added a run in the second on an RBI groundout by Joey Rickard and extended the lead to 5-0 on a homer by Luke Maile in the third.

Rickard and Leonardo Reginatto connected on back-to-back RBI doubles in the fourth to stretch the margin to seven runs.

South Bend (77-49, 33-24) scored its only runs of the night in the sixth on a two-run homer by Rudy Flores.

Brandt, who was named MWL Pitcher of the Week earlier in the day after throwing six no-hit innings at Lake County (Ohio) on Aug. 12, earned his first win as a Hot Rod. The left-hander allowed nine hits, striking out seven and walking one.

Molina blanked South Bend over the final three innings to earn his fourth save of the season.

Maile and Dunn had two hits each to pace the offense.

The series – and 10-game road trip – concludes at 6:05 p.m. CDT today with BG right-hander Reinaldo Lopez (7-4, 2.65) facing South Bend right-hander Braden Shipley (0-1, 1.80).