MUNCIE, Ind. – The University of Dayton baseball team defeated Ball State on Friday afternoon by a score of 4-3. Dayton has now won three of its last four games heading into a doubleheader tomorrow at Woerner Field against Ball State beginning at noon.
 
KEY MOMENT
The Flyers jumped out to a 4-0 lead, but Ball State rallied to bring the score to 4-3 by the end of the seventh inning. Jordan Cox and Josh Nixon threw the eighth and ninth innings on the mound, respectively, and stymied the surging Cardinals by retiring each of the final six Ball State batters in order to seal the victory for Dayton.

SCORING SUMMARY
Top 3rd:
Brandon Smith ripped a two-run double down the left field line over third base that scored Bailey Montoya and Pat Meehan. Dayton 2, Ball State 0
Top 4th:
Takahiro Yamada hit a solo home run over the left field. Dayton 3, Ball State 0
Top 6th:
Riley Tirotta scored from third on a wild pitch from Ball State's John Baker to extend Dayton's lead to four. Tirotta got in with a line drive single to left field and advanced to third on a Takahiro Yamada single with a hit-and-run play on. Dayton 4, Ball State 0
Bottom 6th:
Four of the first five Ball State batters hit singles, which scored two Cardinal runners. Tyler Jones came into the game with one out and runners on first and second, but retired two straight batters to get the Flyers out of the jam. Dayton 4, Ball State 2
Bottom 7th:
Tim Blankenberger led off the inning with a pinch-hit single and advanced to third off a wild pitch and a groundout. Blankenberger then scored on an RBI single from Jeff Riedel. Dayton 4, Ball State 3

KEY STATS

• After driving home two runners at the plate in today's win, Brandon Smith now has 10 RBIs in the team's past four games.
• Brandon Smith was also the starting pitcher today and threw 5.1 innings, allowing two runs on five hits and striking out four.
• Smith set the tone for the pitching staff in pounding the strike zone with no walks allowed. Relievers Tyler Jones, Jordan Cox and Josh Nixon were also effective in attacking the strike zone, walking zero batters.
• Takahiro Yamada hit his first career home run in the fourth inning with a solo blast over the left field wall.
• Ball State's John Baker pitched eight innings and struck out 14 Flyer batters.

 
UP NEXT
Dayton hosts Ball State for a doubleheader tomorrow with the first game scheduled to begin at 12 p.m. The series will conclude on Sunday in Muncie at 1 p.m. Look below for an interview with Brandon Smith following Friday's win.