WEEK 14 – Dayton at La Salle
Game 54: Thursday, 3 p.m. ET
Game 55: Friday, 3 p.m. ET
Game 56: Saturday, 1 p.m. ET
Location: Philadelphia, Pa.
Venue: Hank DeVincent Field
Live Coverage: GoExplorers.com
Series Preview
• Dayton will play its final A-10 Conference regular season series beginning on Thursday at La Salle.
• The Flyers have won three straight conference games after sweeping UMass on Senior Day weekend at Time Warner Cable Stadium last week.
• Senior right-handed pitcher Mike Hauschild will start on Thursday for the Flyers, followed by fellow senior righty Tim Bury. Hauschild leads the team 75 strikeouts on the season and needs just five strikeouts to rank second in career strikeouts at Dayton, entering with 252. Bury has won each of his last six starts on the mound and leads the A-10 in ERA during conference play (1.51).
• La Salle will start with two lefties on the mound on Thursday and Friday. Eric Van Wyk (3-7, 3.61 ERA) will start Thursday and Ryan Donahue (3-3, 2.84 ERA) will start Friday. Right-handed Kevin Christy (2-4, 2.67 ERA) will start the Explorers’ last game of the season on Saturday.
• Dayton is 8-10 against left-handed starters and 6-3 in conference road games this season.
Atlantic 10 Championship implications
• Dayton’s series against La Salle will have a large impact on the Flyers seeding in the Atlantic 10 Championship next weekend in New York, hosted by Fordham.
• Three wins this weekend for the Flyers would mean a share of the A-10 regular season title with Saint Louis (17-7), which have a conference bye this weekend (at Northwestern), and a No. 2 seed in the tournament field.
• Two wins and at least one loss for third-place Rhode Island (at Temple) would ensure a No. 2 seed. If Dayton and Rhode Island are tied in the final conference standings, it will come down to a tiebreaker comparing winning percentage against the highest common opponent in the final standings, since UD and URI did not play in head-to-head competition.
• UD would still earn a bid to the A-10 tourney with one or no wins this weekend.
Pitching Matchups
Thursday: LHP Eric Van Wyk vs. RHP Mike Hauschild
Friday: LHP Ryan Donahue vs. RHP Tim Bury
Saturday: RHP Kevin Christy vs. TBD
Dayton at a Glance
Record: 25-28, 14-7 2nd Atlantic 10
Coach:
Tony Vittorio (367-354, 13th season)
Team B.A. / ERA: .298 (1st) / 5.05 (9th)
• The Flyers’ conference-leading offense is led by a trio of play who respectively rank top 10 in the nation in runs batted in, runs scored and stolen bases. Senior centerfielder Bobby Glover ranks 10th in runs scored (57), senior outfielder C.J. Gillman ranks seventh in RBI (60) and senior shortstop Brian Blasik ranks 5th in stolen bases (34). All three seniors have started every game for UD this season.
• As a team, UD leads the nation in stolen bases (153) and stolen bases per game (2.92). Last weekend Blasik stole seven bags to tie Dayton’s career record of 63, also held by Michael Massa (2004-07). The Flyers have only been caught stealing 28 times for a success rate of 84.4 percent.
• Dayton leads the A-10 in batting average (.296), runs scored (332), hits (562), runs batted in (301), stolen bases (153) and total bases (763).
• Gillman has started in 112 consecutive games in five different positions (1B, 2B, 3B, LF, RF).
• Senior right-handed pitchers Burny Mitchem and Hauschild both rank in the top three in career strikeouts at Dayton. Mitchem (304) ranks first and Hauschild (252) ranks third. Cameron Hobson, an 11th-round MLB Draft pick in 2011, ranks second with 256.
• Head Coach
Tony Vittorio won his 350th game at Dayton on March 24 against Saint Bonaventure. Vittorio is 367-354 in his 13th season at UD and 590-552 in his 20th season overall.
• The Flyers are on the road until the end of the Atlantic 10 Championship in New York next week.
La Salle at a Glance
Record: 20-30, 7-14 11th A-10
Coach: Mike Lake (105-154, 5th Season)
Team BA / ERA (A-10 rank): .259 (9th) / 4.03 (5th)
• The Explorers enter their final series of the season with a 20-30 overall record and 7-14 mark in the A-10. In home games at Hank DeVincent Field this season La Salle is 7-9.
• La Salle is 3-7 in the last 10 games – nine of which have been against A-10 teams. On Tuesday, the Explorers lost a 5-1 decision at West Virginia. Last weekend La Salle won a two-of-three at cross-town conference rival Saint Joseph’s.
• Infielder Jeff Flax leads the team with a .301 batting average and 56 hits. Infielder Dan Klem and outfielder George Smith, Jr., pace the team in RBI with 26 each.
• Junior relief pitcher Pat Christensen has the fourth-most saves in the A-10 with nine – out of La Salle’s 20 wins. Last season Christensen was one of three A-10 pitchers named first team all-conference.
• Last season La Salle finished 28-26 over and sixth in the A-10 with a 13-11 league record.
• Dayton and La Salle did not play in the regular season in 2011, but faced twice in the A-10 Championship in Camden, N.J. The Explorers defeated the Flyers in the first game, 6-5. Dayton later defeated La Salle 10-5 in an elimination game on May 26, 2011.
• Head Coach Mike Lake is 105-154 in his fifth season at La Salle.
National Weather Service Forecast – Philadelphia, Pa.
Thursday: Sunny, with a high near 76 degrees. North wind between 8 and 11 mph.
Friday: Sunny, with a high near 78 degrees. East wind between 5 and 9 mph.
Saturday: Sunny, with a high near 76 degrees.
