April 6, 2008

Box Score

OLEAN, NY - A late rally and solid relief pitching by Lucas Farden was not enough to prevent a sweep as Dayton fell at St. Bonaventure, 7-6 in the finale of an Atlantic 10 baseball series on Sunday afternoon. The sixth consecutive loss for the Flyers dropped their record to 14-14 overall and 2-7 in conference play.

After falling behind 6-0 after four innings of play, UD tallied three runs each in the fifth and seventh innings to even the score. However, St. Bonaventure got the game-deciding score with an unearned run on a RBI single with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning.

The result ruined a stellar relief effort by Lucas Farden. The senior allowed just two earned runs on six hits in 7.1 innings of work out of the bullpen. He struck out eight and walked only one, but fell to 2-5 on the season.

Dayton out hit St. Bonaventure, 14-9 as five Flyers had multi-hit performances on the afternoon. The trio of Cole Tyrell, Scott Dunwoody and Myles Swartzel each finished with three hits. Tyrell led the way at 3-for-5 with a double, run scored and RBI. Dunwoody followed with a 3-for-5 effort of his own that included a double and a run scored while Swartzel was 3-for-4 with a double, run scored and a RBI.

Marshall MacDonald reached base three times and finished 2-for-3 with a walk and a RBI while Kevin Miller walked three times and went 2-for-2 with a RBI.

Jimmy Roesinger finished 0-for-4, but evened the score with a two-RBI sacrifice fly in foul territory down the right field line in the seventh inning. Ryan Nevill scored once and drove in another run while Jacob Spaeth scored once himself for the Flyers.

St. Bonaventure built a big lead early with four runs in the first inning and two more in the fourth to build a 6-0 advantage.

The Flyers finally got things going in the fifth inning beginning with a leadoff single by Kevin Miller through the right side of the infield. Jacob Spaeth followed with a single of his own down the right field line as Miller advanced to third. Scott Dunwoody was then hit by a pitch to load the bases for Marshall MacDonald. The Flyer first baseman was also plunked for an RBI that kept the bases loaded with no outs. Myles Swartzel followed with a RBI single up the middle to plate Jacob Spaeth from third and force the Bonnies to make a trip to their bullpen with the bases still loaded and no outs. The Bona reliever got a fly out before Ryan Nevill drove in another Dayton run with an RBI groundout to cut the Flyer deficit in half at 6-3.

Dayton finally began another rally in the seventh inning with a double to right field by Myles Swartzel. After one out, Ryan Nevill walked to put runners at first and second. Cole Tyrell sent one home with a double of his own that pushed Nevill to third. Jimmy Roesinger then lifted a fly ball into foul territory down the right field line that turned into a two-RBI sacrifice fly which knotted the score at 6-6 after 6 ½ innings of play.

Dayton appeared as if it was heading into extra innings after Farden retired the leadoff batter on a strike out. However the next Bonnie reached on a fielding error and stole second base to put the pressure on the Flyer defense. After a fly out to left field kept the runner at second base an RBI single to right field ended the game with the Bonnies on top 7-6.

Dayton will return to action with a pair of non-conference games this week. The Flyers will travel to Bowling Green for a 3 p.m. ET start on Tuesday. UD will then play host to Wittenberg on Wednesday at 4 p.m. ET. Both games can be followed with Gametracker at www.DaytonFlyers.com.