Beloit Snappers 3B Trace Loehr makes a play during a game earlier this month. (Photo by Dave Baker)

Beloit Snappers infielder Trace Loehr and Dayton Dragons RHP Wendolyn Bautista respectively were named the Midwest League offensive player and pitcher of the week for Aug. 22-28.

During that period, Loehr batted a robust .555 (15-for-27) with five doubles, four walks, four stolen bases, five runs scored, and two runs batted in. The Oakland Athletics prospect is Beloit’s leadoff hitter and primarily plays shortstop, though he also plays third base and second base.

Loehr is batting .245 with 16 doubles and 27 RBI in 96 games with the Snappers this season.

In his lone start last week, Bautista scattered four hits while striking out seven and walking none in nine scoreless innings against the Bowling Green Hot Rods. He is the first Dragons pitcher to throw a nine-inning shutout since RHP Enerio Del Rosario did so against the Lansing Lugnuts on Aug. 28, 2008.

Bautista, a Cincinnati Reds farmhand, is 1-0 with a 3.14 ERA, 18 strikeouts and seven walks in 28.2 innings (six games/three starts) for the Dragons this season. He also made 10 starts for the High-A Daytona Tortugas this year, going 3-1 with a 2.01 ERA, 19 strikeouts and 16 walks in 44.2 innings.

More Midwest League notes:

The Hot Rods beat the Dragons 5-2 in Monday’s Midwest League day game. Bowling Green is 40-16 in its last 56 games and now has one more win than the South Bend Cubs this season, giving the Hot Rods squad an Eastern Division-best 80-53 record for the year and a 43-21 record in the second half. They clinched a postseason berth Thursday.

The next team to clinch a playoff spot likely will be the Cedar Rapids Kernels, who can do so as soon as Monday night if one of two scenarios happens: the Kernels win and the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers lose, or Cedar Rapids wins and the Burlington Bees lose both games of their doubleheader against the Peoria Chiefs. In any case, the Kernels have a seven-game winning streak and a magic number of two.

The Timber Rattlers play at Quad Cities on Monday. The River Bandits have lost their last nine games.