April 26, 2008

Box Score

DAYTON, Ohio - After falling behind 5-0 on three consecutive home runs in the top of the first inning, homestanding Dayton rallied to defeat Richmond, 9-7 in Atlantic 10 baseball action on Saturday afternoon. The Flyers' win evened the weekend series that will conclude Sunday at Noon ET in a game that can be followed from Time Warner Cable Stadium with Gametracker and FREE Live Audio at www.DaytonFlyers.com.

Richmond (16-23-2, 7-9-1 A-10) built an early five-run advantage by smashing back-to-back-to-back homers in the top of the first inning, but UD (25-17, 8-9 A-10) used a blast of its own to finally get on the board in the second when Jake Hoover belted his second of the season to left centerfield.

The Flyers would score two more in the fourth before the Spiders scratched across one each in the fifth and sixth innings to maintain its momentum. However a three-run rally by Dayton in the bottom of the sixth evened the score to setup a dramatic turn for UD in the eighth.

Cole Tyrell began the eighth inning run with a one-out single to left field and after a pitching change to bring in a lefty, Dayton went to its bench for freshman pinch hitter Jimmy Roesinger. He fell behind 0-2 in the at bat but battled his way back to run the count full before lining the ninth pitch he saw into the right field corner for a RBI triple. Roesinger would later score on a wild pitch with two outs to give UD all the insurance it needed for Burny Mitchem who preserved the 9-7 victory.

Dayton's bullpen combined to shut down Richmond with 3.2 scoreless innings pitched after Flyer starter Quinn Haselhorst allowed seven runs on eight hits while striking out three in 5.1 innings on the mound.

Chris Beesley (0.2 IP) and Ryan Hill (0.1 IP) combined to allow three hits and one walk before giving way to Mitchem who improved to 4-2 on the season after a four-strikeout effort. He gave up only one hit and forced Richmond into one of its three double plays on the afternoon.

Jake Hoover led the Flyer offense with a 3-for-4 effort that included the second-inning home run, his sixth of the season, while scoring three times.

Cole Tyrell also scored three runs on the day in a 2-for-3 performance with a double and a hit by pitch.

Ryan Nevill singled and scored twice while Max Navalinski doubled and drove in three runs during a 1-for-3 afternoon.

Kevin Miller and Jacob Spaeth each collected an RBI for a Flyer squad that matched the Spiders with 12 hits each.

After trailing 5-2 after two innings, UD cut into the UR lead again in the fourth with a rally that started on an infield single by Jake Hoover. After a strikeout, Cole Tyrell laced a double to left center that pushed Hoover to third base. Then Max Navalinski ripped a two-base hit of his own to right centerfield to clear the bases and Dayton trailed by just one at 5-4.

Richmond used a fifth-inning sacrifice fly and a two-out RBI double in the sixth inning to take its lead back up to three at 7-4, but Dayton would respond with three runs of its own in the bottom of the sixth inning. Jake Hoover started things again with a single through the left side of the infield. He then moved into scoring position on a passed ball. After Ryan Nevill reached on a fielding, Cole Tyrell tried to lay down a bunt that went back towards the mound. The throw from the pitcher was low towards third base and Hoover was safe at third and eventually scored when the ball ended up in left field. Both runners moved to second and third and after a strikeout Jacob Spaeth looped a RBI single over the head of the shortstop to send in Nevill from third. Kevin Miller followed with a RBI single of his own to left field that evened the score at 7-7.

The Flyer bullpen shut down the Spiders the rest of the way to setup the eighth inning dramatics by Jimmy Roesinger. Dayton's comeback marked just the third time this season that UD has won when trailing after six innings. The Flyers have now won seven of their last eight games and nine of their last 11 overall.