DAYTON, Ohio – The University of Dayton softball team travels to Olean, N.Y. to take on St. Bonaventure University in a three-game, Atlantic 10 series, starting on Saturday, April 23 at noon.

SERIES PREVIEW
Dayton comes into the matchup with a 21-16-1 record and sits in second place in the Atlantic 10 with a record of 9-2-1.

St. Bonaventure has an overall record of 11-25 and is just 4-9 in A-10 play. The Bonnies have won six of their last nine games, coming off a single game win over Canisius during the week. Head Coach Mike Threehouse is in his 20th season leading SBU.

WHO TO WATCH – DAYTON
Dayton's strength is found in the pitching circle, with the Flyers turning in a 1.91 ERA as a team, tops in the Atlantic 10 and eighth in the country. Leading the way for UD is Gabrielle Snyder, who is eighth in the country with an ERA of 1.07, and sophomore Manda Cash, who is 15th with a1.31 mark. Opponents are hitting just .199 off of Flyer pitching this season.

The Flyers come into the weekend hitting .233 as a team. They have two hitters over the .300 threshold in junior Gabrielle Snyder and senior Krista Gustafson, who are hitting .394 and .341 respectively. Gustafson smacked her first home run of the season in Wednesday night's loss to Ohio.

Cash earned her fourth Atlantic 10 Pitcher of the Week award and on April 18 thanks to her outstanding performances against Ohio State and La Salle. She finished the week with 18 innings pitched and allowed just one earned run, striking out 26 and walking only three.

WHO TO WATCH – ST. BONAVENTURE
SBU enters into the weekend with a team batting average of .270, led by a pair of seniors in Emily McDonough and Kelli Rohan, who are hitting .440 and .435 respectively. Junior Desiree Gonzalez leads the team with six home runs and has also driven in 14 runs.

The pitching staff has turned in an ERA of 5.45 in 2016, led by senior Carly Bilchak with a 4.12 mark. Bilchak leads the team in wins with seven and strikeouts with 31.

WEATHER
The weekend weather in Olean, N.Y. calls for temperatures in the 60's with partly cloudy skies.

SERIES INFORMATION
Dayton has a 26-14 all-time record against St. Bonaventure, including a series sweep in Dayton in the 2015 season. The Flyers outscored the Bonnies 19-4 over the three games. 

Current Flyers Kathryn Hess and Hannah DeSalvo had great series at the plate for UD, while Manda Cash tossed three scoreless relief innings and picked up a save in the circle. Hess finished the series 5-for-7 with two runs scored and an RBI, while DeSalvo went 3-for-5 with two runs and three RBIs.

UP NEXT
Dayton returns home for the final home series of the 2016 season on Saturday, April 30 when the Flyers welcome Atlantic 10 leader Fordham to the Gem City for a three-game set.