ELYRIA – An Elyria motorcyclist died overnight following an accident in which he struck a traffic sign on Hilliard Road.

William C. Dalton Jr., 56, was conscious at the scene when police responded to reports of a crash at 6:22 p.m. Wednesday. The man, who police said sustained injuries to his left leg, was first taken to EMH Elyria Medical Center and later flown to Metro Health Medical Center in Cleveland where he was pronounced dead at 12:38 a.m. today. Dalton was not wearing a helmet, police said.

Police said officers at the scene detected a strong odor of alcohol on Dalton. It was not immediately known how fast he was traveling at the time of the crash, Elyria Police Sgt. Lee Frank said.

Initial investigation of the crash revealed that Dalton was westbound on Hilliard Road on his 2003 Harley Davidson motorcycle when he apparently crossed over into the eastbound lane, left the road, and hit a traffic sign east of Vermont Street.

There were no witnesses to the accident, and no other vehicles were involved, Frank said.
Police are asking that anyone with information relating to the crash contact them at (440) 323-3302.

See Friday’s Chronicle for more on this story.

Indians catcher Carlos Santana wipes his forehead Wednesday as Seattle’s Dustin Ackley crosses the plate with another Mariners’ run in the fifth inning of Cleveland’s 9-2 loss at Progressive Field. (AP photo).

CLEVELAND — The Seattle Mariners are the lowest-scoring and worst-hitting ballclub in the American League.

Against the Indians, though, they look like the most explosive team on the planet.

Journeyman slugger Wily Mo Pena knocked in four runs and rookie third baseman Kyle Seager had three doubles Wednesday afternoon, powering the Mariners to a 9-2 victory over the free-falling Tribe.

The loss knocked Cleveland (63-64) below .500 for the first time since April 3, leaving the Indians six games behind Detroit in the AL Central Division with 35 games to play.

“For some reason, Seattle just beat us up and caught us at the wrong time,” said Indians manager Manny Acta, whose club has lost six of its last seven games. “Those guys hit us around pretty good the whole series.
“Really, this last week, we just didn’t pitch well, and that’s been our strength the whole season. This day off comes at a good time for us.”

Staff ace Josh Tomlin was the latest Tribe pitcher to be knocked around by Seattle (56-73), which banged out 51 hits and scored 29 runs in winning three times in the four-game set.

Tomlin (12-7, 4.25 ERA) only lasted 4 2/3 innings in the oven-like confines of Progressive Field, allowing six runs on 11 hits while striking out six. That performance also ended his MLB all-time record streak of 37 straight appearances of at least five innings to begin a career.

“I wasn’t thinking about that streak at all when I was out there, but I will now — and it doesn’t feel good,” said Tomlin, who failed in his bid to break the MLB mark of 37 consecutive, five-plus inning starts to open a career held by John Farrell.

“You don’t ever want to leave those guys (in the bullpen) out to dry, which is my worst fear. I just couldn’t put anyone away today, and every time I was missing, I was missing over the plate.”

Pena and Seager, of all people, did much of the damage from the 7-8 spots in the Mariners’ batting order. They reached base in all 10 of their plate appearances and collected five runs and five RBIs.

Designated hitter Pena, who was released by Arizona in July, went 3-for-3 with four RBIs, two runs, one walk, and a hit by pitch. He ripped a two-run homer off Tomlin in the fourth and a two-run double off the right-hander one inning later.

Seager — playing in just his 23rd MLB game — was 4-for-4 with three runs, one RBI, and one walk. All three of his doubles came in the first five innings as Seattle jumped out to a 6-2 lead and disposed of Tomlin.

“We couldn’t get him out. He just caught fire and killed us,” Acta said of Seager, who hit .769 (10-for-13) in the series. “It was the bottom of the order that really hurt Josh today with him and Pena.”

Mariners righty Felix Hernandez (12-11, 3.37 ERA) earned the victory with six innings of two-run ball, scattering seven hits while striking out 10.

Jamey Wright and Josh Lueke added six whiffs in relief, raising Cleveland’s team strikeout total to a season-high tying 16.

“We’ve been leading the league in that category for two years in a row, and we’re still striking out way too much,” Acta said. “It’s unacceptable when you don’t have a team loaded with sluggers, and it’s something we’ll address in the offseason and next spring.”

Left fielder Shelley Duncan led the Indians with three hits, while first baseman Matt LaPorta and shortstop Jason Donald had two apiece. Duncan and Jack Hannahan each had one RBI, coming in the third and fourth inning, respectively.

Seattle committed four errors in the game, giving it eight in the series, but the Tribe was unable to turn any of them into runs.

Cleveland reliever Rafael Perez also contributed to the misery by giving up the Mariners’ final three runs. He walked three and gave up two hits in his lone inning, the seventh.
Adding injury to insult, Cleveland outfielder Shin-Soo Choo experienced “left trunk soreness” during batting practice and was a last-minute scratch. He is listed as day-to-day.
Additionally, Indians catcher Carlos Santana took a foul ball off his head during Brendan Ryan’s at-bat in the ninth. He exited the game with neck pain.

“We’re not the only team that goes through injuries, so we’ve got to keep playing through it,” Tomlin said. “You saw what happened to us (being swept by Detroit and overpowered by Seattle in a six-day span). That could happen to anybody.

“This week will not make or break us, hopefully.”

Contact Brian Dulik at brisports@hotmail.com.

WELLINGTON — Ryan Mayse didn’t have the longest pull in Wednesday night’s Lorain County Fair truck pull.

But he might have had the loudest applause when it was announced that Mayse, an Army specialist home on leave from Afghanistan, was dedicating his run to two fellow servicemen who won’t be coming home.

Mayse, 22, said Staff Sgt. Ampers and Sgt. McDonald were close to his heart while he competed even though he didn’t remember their first names — he rarely used them, he explained.

McDonald was in a truck that was blown up by an improved explosive device, and Ampers was the victim of a rocket-propelled grenade when he tried to assist other soldiers who’d gotten into a firefight, Mayse said.

“It doesn’t matter who it is, you’re never ready to lose anybody over there,” Mayse said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s your worst enemy or your best friend. You don’t wish that on anyone.”

Mayse, who is from central Ohio, is headed back to Afghanistan — he can’t say where specifically — on Sept. 3. But for now he’s enjoying his time home. He’s headed to another diesel event in Indiana Thursday.

“I planned my leave around this,” he said of county fair season.

While other guys were taking leave in May or June, Mayse said, “I’ll wait till August,” he said.

His fellow soldiers responded, “You’re going to go home and break the truck, aren’t you?” he said.

Mayse said he’s been watching truck and tractor pulls since he was a little kid and got involved himself following his first tour in Afghanistan a couple years ago because he finally had the money to buy his first truck.

“I don’t have a whole lot of chance to do it, so when I do, I jump all over it,” he said.

Mayse’s pull of 230.26 feet, near the bottom of the 2.6 diesel truck class, didn’t disappoint him.

“Whatever you can do is whatever you can do,” he said, admitting that he’s always nervous and his skin crawls when he’s about to pull.

He’s eager to get his truck competitive with others in his class, which he says he’ll accomplish by sinking all of his deployment money into it.

For him, it’s a way to get away from the reality he’ll be facing in under 10 days.

“To come home and do this stuff and not have to care or worry about anything — that’s the best feeling,” he said.

ELYRIA —Tim Quinn’s hopes that the Ohio Supreme Court would put him back on the November ballot as an independent candidate for Elyria mayor were dashed Wednesday when the state’s highest court tossed his legal challenge to the Lorain County Board of Election’s decision to remove him from the ballot.

The Supreme Court ruling didn’t include an explanation of why it dismissed Quinn’s challenge.

The elections board voted to kick Quinn off the ballot after discovering that he had voted in the May Democratic primary one day after he filed to run for mayor as an independent. State elections rules and prior court cases have determined that independent candidates can’t engage in partisan political activity after declaring their independence from a political party, according to county elections officials.

Assistant County Prosecutor Gerald Innes said the decision upholds what the elections board said when it removed Quinn from the mayoral race.

“We think it’s the correct decision,” he said.

Quinn, however, argued that he has run as an independent twice before – he was defeated in bids for mayor in 2007 and City Council in 2009 – and both times he voted in the Democratic primary without any penalty. The elections board has said that the rule wasn’t in place in 2007 when Quinn was put on the ballot and the issue wasn’t challenged in 2009.

Quinn has said that when he cast his ballot in May, he didn’t vote in the race between Elyria Mayor Bill Grace and Elyria school board member Holly Brinda, who defeated the three-term incumbent. Republican Ray Noble won his party’s primary.

His attorney, Gerald Phillips, has also argued that the elections board violated his client’s constitutional rights to run as a candidate and to cast a ballot.
Phillips said without the state’s highest court explaining its reasoning he isn’t certain what to make of the ruling.

“I don’t have the faintest idea what was the rationale for that decision,” Phillips said.

Phillips said that Quinn —who didn’t return a call seeking comment — has other legal avenues, including lawsuits in state or federal courts, that he could pursue to get his name back on the ballot. He said his client has not yet made a decision about what to do.

The Supreme Court, Phillips said, appears to have missed an opportunity to clarify the rules governing how independent candidates can behave.

“Everybody’s in the dark as much as they were before,” he said.

Brinda said she wasn’t surprised the Supreme Court rejected Quinn’s efforts to return to the ballot.

“Elections laws are complex and designed to protect the interests of the system and while Mr. Quinn may be disappointed that he can’t contribute as a mayoral candidate there are other ways to contribute,” she said.

Noble said he would have liked to see Quinn remain in the race, but there’s also a possibility that Quinn’s continued exile from the November contest will benefit him.
“I hope that the people who were supporting him will come over and support me,” he said.

Contact Brad Dicken at 329-7147 or bdicken@chroniclet.com.