Bowling Green Hot Rods designated hitter Ronaldo Hernandez made sure the Dayton (Ohio) Dragons’ late-inning strategy backfired in BG’s 5-4 walk-off win Thursday at Bowling Green Ballpark.

After Dayton intentionally walked Brendan McKay with two outs, Hernandez delivered with an RBI single off the wall in left field to cap a late-inning comeback for the Hot Rods on opening night.

Hernandez, who was 0-for-4 before the walk-off hit, said he was happy to deliver the game-winner.

“(I) feel good,” Hernandez said through a translator. “(I) was waiting for that at-bat. (I) was confident and when (I) got to the plate I was thinking about getting a good hit and it happened.”

Hernandez’s two-out game-winner capped a night where seven of the nine runs scored with two outs.

Bowling Green (1-0) struck first with a solo homer from Emilio Gustave and an RBI single by McKay to give the Hot Rods a 2-0 lead, but the Dragons erased that deficit in the middle innings.

BG starting pitcher Drew Strotman skirted danger through the first four innings – stranding five Dragons – but Dayton broke through in the fifth. Stuart Fairchild’s two-out, two-strike, two-run double tied the score and chased Strotman. John Sansone gave the Dragons a 3-2 lead with a first-pitch, broken-bat RBI single off reliever Tyler Day.

“It was very evident that (Strotman) didn’t have his best stuff tonight, but he went out there and battled,” Bowling Green manager Craig Albernaz said. “It’s a testament to who he is. He battled 4 2/3 innings and then they got the big hit on a slider he left up a little bit, but again he battled all night.”

Dayton added a run in the seventh before Bowling Green rallied with Adrian Rondon’s two-out, two-run double in the eighth making the score 4-4.

That set the stage for the ninth-inning heroics. Vidal Brujan started the rally by reaching on an error by Dayton shortstop Jeter Downs, the fourth error of the night for the Dragons. Zac Law followed and flied out to deep center, with Brujan alertly tagging up and advancing to second on the play.

“That’s what he does,” Albernaz said. “He’s fast. He’s a dynamic player and it is great to have him at the top of the order. Zac drove the ball to deep center field and it was a good job by Brujan – a heads-up play to tag up on that ball.”

After Law’s fly out, Taylor Walls struck out for the second out. With first base open, the Dragons put McKay with Hernandez’s game-winner coming two pitches later.

“The two-out RBI hits was the theme all night,” Albernaz said. “They had a big one against us that put them ahead. We had Rondon’s clutch hit and Ronaldo. What a day saver that was. I think he was 0-for-4 at that point and then he stepped up and got that clutch hit. It was great resiliency on his part.”

Nicholas Padilla tossed two scoreless innings in relief to earn the win.

Brujan and Gustave paced the offense with two hits each.

OPENING NIGHT

Bowling Green improved to 7-3 all-time on opening day and also improved to 7-3 in home openers. Thursday’s walk-off win was the first in a home opener in franchise history.

UP NEXT

The series, and homestand, concludes at 6:35 p.m. Friday with a pair of right-handers scheduled to start.

Austin Franklin is the probable starter for the Hot Rods. A third-round pick in the 2016 draft, Franklin is the No. 10 prospect overall in the Tampa Bay Rays system according to Baseball America.

Mac Sceroler is the probable starter for the Dragons. Sceroler with a fifth-round pick for the Cincinnati in the 2017 draft.