Dayton Flyers

DAYTON, Ohio – Dayton upended No. 30 Saint Louis, 13-12, after coming back from a 10-1 deficit and scoring a run in the bottom of the ninth on Friday afternoon at Time Warner Cable Stadium.

With the bases loaded and one out, senior Josh Jeffery hit a sacrifice fly in foul territory which was caught by the SLU third baseman. Pinch runner Spencer Rohr tagged from third base before successfully scoring the game-winning run for Dayton.

“Sometimes you see players drop the ball in that situation,” Head Coach Tony Vittorio said. “They didn’t and since we had Spencer pinch running we decided to gamble on that play and it paid off for us.”

The Flyers improve to 3-1 in A-10 play and are now tied for the conference lead with the nationally-ranked Billikens (19-7, 3-1).

Saint Louis jumped out to a 10-1 lead on an atypical outing for Flyer starter Mike Hauschild. Hauschild, who was averaging 7 2/3 innings per start, had his shortest appearance of the season at 3 2/3 innings after striking out five and allowing six walks and 10 runs. Both walks allowed and runs allowed were career-highs for UD’s ace, who came into Friday with just seven walks on the season.

But a 10-1 deficit going into the bottom of the fourth inning was the just the beginning of one of the greatest comebacks in Vittorio’s tenure. After SLU posted seven runs in the top of the fourth – all with two outs, Dayton responded with nine runs to tie the game at 10 in the bottom half. 

“In the middle of the fourth we gathered up the guys in the dugout and told them to play like it is 0-0 right now,” the 13th-year coach said. “And I thought our offense did a great job of battling and keeping us in the game. It was a hitter’s game for both sides. I’m also really proud of our relievers for finishing the job on a tough windy day.”

Dayton sent 13 batters to the plate in the fourth inning. Senior C.J. Gillman leadoff the inning with a single and later drove in a run during his second at bat of the fourth. Freshman A.J. Ryan and senior Zach Stewart also recorded two hits in the fourth inning alone.

In just one inning, Dayton scored more runs on SLU starter Alex Alemann (seven) than he had allowed all season (six). The Billikens changed pitchers three times in the fourth inning. Alemann’s ERA jumped from 1.09 before the game to 2.42 after facing the Flyers.

In the last six innings, UD went on a 12-2 run to captures its second walk-off victory in a week (last Saturday against St. Bonaventure).

Six Flyers had multi-hit games, led by three hits from Stewart and Ryan. Blasik had a team-high three RBI. Senior Bobby Glover homered for UD, his sixth of the season.

Dayton committed no defensive errors for the third time this season.

Senior Burny Mitchem (2-3) faced the minimum in the last two innings of the game to receive the win. Both his wins this season have come in relief appearances.

SLU’s Nick Bates (2-1) allowed the game-winning run to reach base and received the loss. The Billiken’s offense was led by a 5-for-5, four-RBI and two-run performance from left fielder Alex Kelly.

Dayton and Saint Louis resume a three-game series tomorrow at 1 p.m. ET, at Time Warner Cable Stadium.