DAYTON – The University of Dayton baseball team defeated Hartford by a score of 7-4 on Saturday afternoon to earn its second straight victory. The win improves the Flyers record to 3-7 this season, while Hartford drops to 1-9, including seven losses to ranked opponents. Brandon Smith led the way for Dayton at the plate with three hits, including a home run and a triple, and three RBI.
KEY MOMENT
Brandon Smith's first three at bats of the game all proved to be key for the Flyers on Saturday. Smith set the tone early with a solo home run over the center field fence in the first inning to give Dayton a 1-0 lead, which they would hold on to for the remainder of the game. Smith tripled in his second at bat to score Pat Meehan from third base and double Dayton's lead to 2-0 and then he was driven home by a Riley Tirotta line drive single up the middle. Smith then went on to hit a single through the right side of the infield that scored Meehan once again for his third RBI of the game to make the score 4-2. Tyler Jones also came through on the mound in crunch time with two innings thrown, two strikeouts and no hits allowed to earn his first save of the season.
SCORING BREAKDOWN
Bottom 1st: Brandon Smith hit a solo shot over the center field fence to open scoring for the game. Dayton 1, Hartford 0
Bottom 3rd: Smith hit a triple that scored Pat Meehan from third base to double Dayton's lead. Riley Tirotta immediately followed him with a line drive single up the middle to drive in Smith and extend the Flyers lead to three. Dayton 3, Hartford 0
Top 4th: Chris Sullivan grounded out into a double play, but Nick Campana, who led off the inning with a single up the middle, scored from third on Sullivan's at bat. Dayton 3, Hartford 1
Top 5th: Zach Ardito opened the inning with a triple to right field and scored two batters later off a Drew Holtgrieve double down the left field line. Dayton 3, Hartford 2
Bottom 5th: Smith recorded his third RBI of the day with an RBI single through the right side of the infield to score Meehan. Dayton 4, Hartford 2
Bottom 7th: The Hartford second baseman bobbled a ground ball from Riley Tirotta and Mitchell Garrity scored on the play. Dayton 5, Hartford 2
Top 8th: Hartford's three first batters of the inning reached via a single, hit by pitch and an error, which scored the leadoff man of the inning. Following the Hartford run, Tyler Jones came onto the mound for Dayton with no outs and runners on first and third. Jones forced Chris Sullivan to ground out into his second double play of the game, which scored the runner on third, but eliminated the game-tying run from the base paths. Jones retired the next batter via fly out to end the inning. Dayton 5, Hartford 4
Bottom 8th: With runners on first and second, Bailey Montoya came up with a clutch two-run single to score Connor Wilson from second and Takahiro Yamada from first. The Hartford center fielder attempted to make a play on Yamada at third base, but Drew DeMartino mishandled the throw for the Hawks, allowing Yamada to score on the play. Dayton 7, Hartford 4
KEY STATS

• Brandon Smith now has two straight games with a home run and at least three RBI. Smith also hit a home run in Dayton's win over Eastern Michigan on Tuesday to go along with four RBI.
• Connor Echols and Bailey Montoya also both had multi-hit games for the Flyers on Saturday. Montoya's two-run single in the eighth inning gave Dayton some insurance runs heading to the final frame.
• Peter Rozman started the game for Dayton on the hill and was effective, having allowed just four hits and two runs over 4.1 innings of work. Rozman has been consistent in his ability to throw strikes this season and continued that theme on Saturday with only one free pass issued on the day.
• Jordan Cox came in as the first reliever out of the bullpen for Dayton and pitched a scoreless inning, which was good enough to earn his second win of the season and improve his record to 2-0 this season.
• Tyler Jones earned his first save of the season by pitching the two final innings of the game, while striking out two and allowing no hits.

COACH'S CORNER
Head Coach Jayson King:
On the importance of setting the tone early in the game:
"I think it's really important. In each of the last two games, the first defensive play of the game has been fantastic plays and gives us energy from the get go. Connor Echols made a sliding catch to open the Eastern Michigan game and then the ball went off Rozman's foot and Taki Yamada made a great play to stick with it and get the runner out at first on the first play today. It's always great to start strong and then to have Brandon Smith come up and put us on the board early was awesome."
On Brandon Smith's tremendous performance at the plate:
"He was great today. Obviously he opened with the home run and the triple, and then he followed those with a 10-pitch at-bat and a base hit to score another runner. That's the Brandon Smith we'll need going forward this season to do just what he did today."
"Overall, it usually comes down to pitching and defense, as well as some timely hitting. I think we got that today, especially with Bailey (Montoya's) slash up the middle in the eighth that scored two runs. Also, we just want to play competitive baseball. Like Pat Meehan made an error earlier in the game, but he kept his head up and made a great play the very next at-bat on a tough ball. That is exactly what we want to do – to keep competing every pitch."
 
UP NEXT
Dayton will take on Wright State tomorrow at Nischwitz Stadium in Fairborn, Ohio at 3 p.m.