BOX SCORE

ST. LOUIS – The University of Dayton Flyers had their postseason dreams dashed after clawing back to force extra innings against the Saint Louis Billikens on Friday at the Billiken Sports Complex. Dayton (23-31, 12-14 A-10) fell 7-6 in 10 innings after tying the game at three to force extra frames.

Friday’s loss eliminates the Flyers from postseason contention. Saint Louis remains in the hunt for a playoff spot with a 14-12 conference record.

Right-handed pitcher Burny Mitchem broke UD’s single-season strikeout record after notching his 86th of the season on Friday. The mark surpasses the 83 strikeouts that Cameron Hobson had last season. Mitchem finished the day with nine strikeouts and three earned runs against him. He did not walk a single batter.

Chris Beesley pitched three innings of relief, but was pulled in favor of Mike Hauschild after allowing two runs in the bottom of the 10th inning. Hauschild, last week’s winning pitcher in a 9-8 walk-off win, was dealt the loss after pitching the final 0.1 of the inning.

Jonathan Castine had three RBI on a home run in the 10th inning to give UD a 6-3 lead. Aaron Dunsmore, Brian Blasik and Mitchell Nelson each had an RBI in the loss.

Dayton opened the scoring in the top of the first after Brian Blasik belted a home run to right-center field. The Billikens roared back with two runs in the bottom of the second and another in the bottom of the third inning to give SLU a 3-1 lead.

Dunsmore scored Joe Gayda in the top of the eighth to cut the lead to one run. Nelson’s sacrifice fly scored Zach Blanchette to tie the game 3-3 in the top of the ninth inning.

Castine was poised to be the hero in the top of the 10th inning, hammering a three-run blast to give the Flyers a 6-3 lead going into the bottom half of the inning. Beesley worked his way into a jam after two runs scored on his watch in the bottom half of the 10th inning.  Hauschild (4-7) was called on to relieve Beesley with the go-ahead run at the plate.

With one out and runners on first and third base, Hauschild forced the ground ball that he needed to get out of the inning. However, a costly throwing error allowed SLU’s Mike Levine to advance to second after reaching on a fielder’s choice. Levine became the eventual game-winning run, scoring on a base hit to right-center field.

The Flyers will play their final game of the season on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. ET. Mike Ivcic will broadcast the game live on the Dayton Flyer Sports Network on 1660 AM and www.DaytonFlyers.com.