DAYTON, Ohio – The University of Dayton baseball team opens their home slate in a weekend tournament in conjunction with Wright State, hosting Indiana State and Oakland.
The Flyers hope to get a spark from playing at home. UD finished its spring break road trip on a five-game slide. Last season Dayton was 23-5 at home and split the weekend tournament with wins on Friday and Sunday.
Cole Tyrell leads the team with a .373 batting average through 12 games. He also leads with eight doubles, and has 13 RBI. Joe Gayda is right behind Tyrell with a .370 batting average.
Right-handed pitcher Burny Mitchem will start against the Sycamores. Mitchem leads the team with 20 strikeouts in 14.1 innings of action. Against then-No. 9 Clemson, Mitchem had six strikeouts in 3.2 innings of work while allowing two earned runs.
Mitchem will battle RHP Jacob Petricka on Friday. Petricka has a 1-2 record with 22 punchouts in 16 innings pitched. He is carrying a 6.19 ERA into the weekend matchup.
ISU is 7-4 and is led by Robby Ort. Ort leads the team with 12 RBI and a .382 batting average. He has five extra bases thus far, including a pair of triples. Tyler Graham is hitting .381 and is 3-for-4 on stolen base attempts.
Dayton will face Oakland in a doubleheader on Saturday. Dayton is expected to throw southpaw Cameron Hobson against the Grizzlies’ Kyle Teague in the first game. Hobson is 0-1 this season in three starts for UD. Teague has lost both of his starts for Oakland and has seven strikeouts in 9.1 innings of action.
Right-hander Connor Mielock from the Grizzlies will face freshman right-handed pitcher Bryce Lahrman. Mielock is 0-2 in two starts this season and has pitched 6.1 innings. Lahrman is 1-1 this season and earned a win in his first collegiate start against the New Jersey Institute of Technology. He was named Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week after his six strikeout performance against the Highlanders two weeks ago.
Oakland is looking to make headway after starting the season 1-5. John Estes is hitting .364 with just two RBI. Ryan Waldhart has three doubles and has driven in four runs this season.
Dayton closes out the weekend against Wright State, last year’s Horizon League champion. The Flyers and Raiders split last season with wins at each team’s home field. The Raiders upset No. 1 Virginia 2-1 in a Friday matchup against the Cavaliers. Wright State is 3-7 this season and is led by Jake Hibberd. In 10 games, Hibberd is hitting .382 with three doubles and a team-leading 10 RBI.
UD will start right-handed pitcher Mike Hauschild, who has a 1-1 record on the season. He has only made one start this season, but has been solid as a reliever carrying a 2.57 ERA prior to a 8-2 loss to Austin Peay last weekend. Wright State has not announced a starter for Sunday’s game.
The voice of Flyer baseball, Mike Ivcic will carry all of Dayton’s games this weekend on 1660 Information Radio and www.DaytonFlyers.com. Pregame radio for each day will start a half hour before first pitch. Friday’s start is slated for 3:00 p.m. at Time Warner Cable Stadium. Admission is free all season.
