April 12, 2008

Box Score

DAYTON, Ohio - Homestanding Dayton went ahead early and never looked back to complete a sweep of an Atlantic 10 baseball doubleheader with a 6-4 win over Saint Joseph's on Saturday at Time Warner Cable Stadium.

Scott Dunwoody was 3-for-5 with his first home run of the season and two runs scored to lead the Flyer offense in support of a stellar pitching effort by Quinn Haselhorst. The southpaw improved to 3-1 on the season after allowing just three earned runs on nine hits over 8.1 innings pitched. He struck out four and did not surrender a walk on the afternoon.

Marshall MacDonald closed out a strong weekend against the Hawks with a 2-for-4 effort that included a run scored and a RBI. Jimmy Roesinger doubled as part of his own two-hit performance while Max Navalinski singled twice as UD out hit SJU, 13-9.

Kevin Miller scored both times he reached base while Myles Swartzel drove in two of his own for Dayton (18-15, 4-8 A-10) which swept an Atlantic 10 doubleheader for the first time in four attempts this season.

Chris Beesley came out of the bullpen to earn a 14-pitch save that finished with a dramatic strikeout to cap the Flyers' fourth conference victory of the season.

Dayton jumped on Saint Joseph's with three runs in the bottom of the first inning. After one out, Scott Dunwoody sent the first pitch he saw into left field for a single. Marshall MacDonald battled his way through a seven-pitch at-bat to hit a 3-2 offering through the left side of the infield for a single of his own to put two runners on base for UD. Myles Swartzel followed with a RBI double to right centerfield that sent home Dunwoody from second and pushed MacDonald to third base with only one out. After Max Navalinski walked to load the bases, Ryan Nevill hit a popup into shallow left centerfield. The wind blown ball forced the shortstop to dive in order to make a catch and allowed MacDonald to tag on a sacrifice fly. Cole Tyrell added a RBI single to right field and Dayton was ahead 3-0.

SJU battled back with two runs in the top of the second inning, but UD got one back in the bottom of the frame. Kevin Miller hit a one-out ground ball to the second baseman that took a bad hop for a single to start the rally. He moved to second on a ground out by Scott Dunwoody and then scored on a RBI single to right field by Marshall MacDonald for a 4-2 Dayton lead.

UD kept the pressure on again in the fourth inning beginning with a leadoff walk by Kevin Miller. He went from first to third on another single by Scott Dunwoody to centerfield. Myles Swartzel sent Miller home with a sacrifice fly to left field to put the Flyers ahead 5-2.

The Hawks got one run closer in the sixth, but Scott Dunwoody would give the Flyers another three-run lead in the eighth inning. After falling behind 1-2 in the at bat, the junior worked his way to a full count before smashing his first home run of the season to left centerfield. His one-out solo shot gave Dayton a 6-3 lead.

SJU got one run closer in the top of the ninth and were trailing by just two with runners at the corners when Chris Beesley fell behind 1-0 to Brian Hartsell. The Dayton reliever buckled down to throw three straight strikes including a swing-and-a-miss to end the game with a 6-4 Dayton victory.

UD returns to action with a pair of non-conference games this week in the Miami Valley. Dayton will take on Urbana at Athletes in Action Field in Xenia, Ohio on Monday night at 7:30 p.m. ET. The Flyers will then play host to Wright State on Wednesday at 4 p.m. ET at Time Warner Cable Stadium. Both games can be followed with Gametracker at www.DaytonFlyers.com.