WEEKEND PREVIEW• The University of Dayton baseball team will open up the 2016 Atlantic 10 slate with a three-game home series against Saint Louis this weekend. The Flyers and Billikens meet Friday at 3 p.m. before facing off again Saturday at 1 p.m. and Sunday at 12 p.m. in the finale.
• The Flyers head into conference play with a 5-14 record overall including a 3-3 home mark. Dayton started off the season slow, but has won two straight over Ball State and Toledo. Head Coach
Tony Vittorio is looking to get the Flyers back to postseason play and can help with a strong start to the A-10 schedule.
• Saint Louis has a 9-12 record in 2016 with nine of its games thus far coming at home, posting an 8-1 home mark. On the road, the Billikens are 0-2 away and 1-9 in neutral site games. Head Coach Darin Hendrickson has 285 wins in his nine seasons at the helm. The Billikens were picked to win the A-10 this year in the preseason poll.
WHO TO WATCH - DAYTON• The Flyers have a team batting average of .227 with 14 home runs, 28 doubles, 13 steals, and a .305 on-base percentage.
• Leading the way for Dayton is
Robbie Doring, who has a .328 average, six home runs, and 15 RBI, and
Mark Giesler, who has a .306 average, two home runs, and eight RBI.
• Dayton's pitching staff has combined for an ERA of 5.73 with 105 strikeouts and 73 walks in 160 1/3 innings of work.
• The starting rotation is scheduled to be RHP
Charlie Dant (1-1, 5.33 ERA, 12 K's) on Friday, RHP
Zach Beaver (1-3, 3.60 ERA, 21 K's) on Saturday, and RHP
Austin Cline (1-0, 4.84 ERA, 20 K's) on Sunday.
• The Flyers have a .968 fielding percentage defensively with 22 errors and 16 double plays in 695 chances.
WHO TO WATCH - THE OPPONENT• Saint Louis is batting .262 overall with a .382 slugging percentage and .345 on-base percentage. The Billikens has 38 doubles and 23 steals in 21 games.
• Reigning A-10 Player of the Week Josh Bunselmeyer leads SLU with a .299 average, 25 RBI, and six home runs. Braxton Martinez has chipped in 14 RBI while Parker Sniatynski has driven in 11.
• As a team, Saint Louis has 146 strikeouts compared to 81 walks with a 5.35 ERA in 191 2/3 innings of work.
• The projected starters are RHP Matt Eckelman (3-2, 5.54 ERA, 30 K's/5 BB's) on Friday, RHP Miller Logan (1-3, 6.35 ERA, 13 K's) on Saturday, and LHP Devin Mahoney (0-0, 4.00, 9 K's) on Sunday.
• Defensively, the Billikens have a .962 fielding percentage with 31 errors in 21 games.
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORECAST– DAYTON, Ohio
Friday– PM Sun, High of 51 degrees, low of 35 degrees. 10% chance of rain, Wind at 11 mph
Saturday– Partly Cloudy, High of 63 degrees, low of 43 degrees. 0% chance of rain, Wind at 7 mph
Sunday– Partly Cloudy, High of 73 degrees, low of 49 degrees. 20% chance of rain, Wind at 8 mph
LAST MEETINGDayton and Saint Louis squared off in a three-game set in early May 2014 with the Billikens taking two of three games at home. SLU was victorious in the finale 8-5.
Aaron Huesman drove in three for the Flyers while Danny Mannion plated four for the Billikens.
LAST OUTINGThe Flyers powered their way to a 14-6 win over Toledo at home on Tuesday, hitting four home runs in the contest. Freshman
Tyler Henry got his first start and earned the victory with 11 hits and 14 runs in support.
The Billikens suffered a hard-fought 9-8 loss to SIU-Edwardsville on Tuesday on the road. Josh Bunselmeyer and Braxton Martinez drove in a pair each for SLU, who totaled 11 hits in the game.
STATISTICAL RANKINGSDayton ranks second in the Atlantic 10 in home runs and fifth in hit by pitch. Individually,
Charlie Dant ranks first in the league in complete games while
Robbie Doring is third in hit by pitch, second in sacrifice flies, sixth in total bases, and leads the A-10 in home runs.
ON THE BIG STAGEDayton will have three games televised statewide on Time Warner Cable Sports Channel this season. The Flyers played Toledo on March 22 already and will now play vs. Ohio on April 12 and vs. George Washington on April 22.
DANT NAMED A-10 PITCHER OF WEEKFlyer pitcher
Charlie Dant was named Atlantic 10 Co-Pitcher of the Week on March 14 after pitching a complete game shutout against Oakland the previous weekend. The senior did not walk anyone or allow a run while striking out five.
FLYERS PICKED TO FINISH 11TH IN A-10The Atlantic 10 released their 2016 preseason poll and picked Dayton to finish 11th in the conference this season. Saint Louis was tabbed to take home the regular season title with seven first-place votes, followed by VCU (four first-place votes), and Rhode Island (two first-place votes). The Flyers finished 12th last season.
COVERING THE NATIONThe 2016 roster has players from across the United States with Flyers hailing from nine different states. Dayton has players from Illinois, Wisconsin, Ohio, Nebraska, Indiana, Michigan, California, Colorado, and New Mexico.
ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENTSAt the Dayton OASSA Academic Awards banquet this February, Flyer baseball senior
Mitch Coughlin was one of the finalists for the prestigious Presidential Scholar Athlete Award, due to his accomplishments in the classroom. He was also named to the All-cademic Team for recording the highest GPA on the baseball team.
HONORARY FLYER CAMERON NEALDuring the 2013 season, the Dayton Baseball program announced the addition of
Cameron Neal to its family. Cameron was a local boy that battled a brain tumor. He was partnered up with the Flyers through the Friends of Jaclyn foundation. What started out as a young boy meeting with a few players has blossomed into a tight-knit relationship that not only benefitted Cameron, but the players
as well. With his own locker and uniform, Cameron was seen at as many of the games as he could attend. He was not part of just a community service project, but truly a member of the Dayton Baseball team. Cameron lost his battle this past fall and is the inspiration behind the #Cam10 hashtag that the team is using as its motto this season.
FLYERS ADD CYPRET TO STAFFThe Dayton Baseball coaching staff added
Ryan Cypret for the 2016 season. A native of Ohio and a graduate of Ohio State University, Cypret joined UD from Western Michigan, where he helped the Broncos post the second-highest fielding percentage in school history. While playing at OSU, Cypret was a two-time team captain and a three-year starter.
UP NEXTThe Flyers host Eastern Kentucky on Tuesday, March 29 at 4 p.m. at Woerner Field.
