By Mike Monaco

SOUTH BEND — Dayton All-Star starting pitcher Tejay Antone stymied South Bend, as the Dragons rolled to a 3-1 victory and handed the Cubs their seventh loss in eight games on Wednesday night at Four Winds Field.

Antone dealt 8.2 innings of one-run ball. The Dragons (36-30) punched across two runs in the second and a run in the fourth to down South Bend (27-36).

Six players — three from each team, including Cubs starter Trevor Clifton — were ejected during a fourth-inning brawl. After Clifton left through 3.2 innings, South Bend reliever Michael Wagner worked the next 3.1 innings and tallied six strikeouts. Wagner joined the Cubs earlier in the afternoon from Double-A Tennessee.

After Wagner’s 3.1 shutout stanzas, fellow right-handed reliever Brad Markey followed with two shutout frames of his own.

Cubs left fielder Rashad Crawford (2-for-3, one run) paced the South Bend offensive effort.

Dayton center fielder Brian O’Grady led off the second inning with a triple to right field. Two batters later, on a slow comebacker to the mound, Clifton gunned home and catcher Gioskar Amaya slapped the tag on O’Grady to keep the game scoreless. But the Dragons loaded the bases, and No. 9 hitter Jonathan Reynoso supplied a two-out, two-run single to lift Dayton to the early advantage.

Dayton scored on a sacrifice fly in the fourth inning. Dragons designated hitter Shed Long slid in to score and make it 3-0. Long got tangled up at the plate with Amaya, and a benches-clearing brawl broke out. Clifton, Amaya and Cubs first baseman Cael Brockmeyer were ejected. Long and Dayton backup catchers Jose Ortiz and Chadwick Tromp were also tossed. South Bend third baseman Jesse Hodges stepped in at catcher for the first time in his career.

The Cubs finally broke through against Antone in the bottom of the sixth inning. South Bend left fielder Rashad Crawford launched a one-out double to deep right-center field, and Cubs center fielder Charcer Burks reeled him in with an RBI single to left field to trim the margin to 3-1.

South Bend and Dayton conclude their three-game series Thursday at 7:05 p.m. ET at Four Winds Field. Cubs right-hander Jake Stinnett (6.02 ERA) is scheduled to oppose Dragons lefty Seth Varner (3.14 ERA).