DAYTON – The University of Dayton baseball team lost its series finale to Ball State on Sunday afternoon by a score of 3-2. The Flyers had the tying run on third base for three at-bats in the top of the ninth, but were unable to break through with a hit to tie up the game. Dayton's record is now 5-10 this season, while Ball State moves back to .500 with a 10-10 record.

KEY MOMENT
Mitchell Garrity and Brandon Smith opened the ninth inning with back-to-back singles to give Dayton runners on first and third with no outs and put the tying run just 90-feet away from scoring. Riley Tirotta struck out for the first out of the inning and was followed by a bunt attempt from Takahiro Yamada. Yamada's bunt went right back to the Ball State pitcher, who threw out Garrity at home for the second out. Tate Hagan drew a walk to load the bases on the next at-bat, but Michael Cleary struck out swinging to close out the game.

SCORING BREAKDOWN
Bottom 2nd:
Ball State's first three batters of the inning all reached base on a single, walk and another single to score the first run of the game. They also had the bases loaded with no outs, but Peter Rozman recorded three straight outs to get out of the jam and the inning. Ball State 1, Dayton 0
Top 3rd:
Connor Echols' first home run of the season, a solo blast over the left field wall tied up the game. Dayton 1, Ball State 1
Bottom 5th:
Colin Brockhouse hit a home run to center field to allow Ball State to retake the lead. Ball State 2, Dayton 1
Top 6th:
Bailey Montoya opened the sixth inning at the plate by drawing a walk and then advanced to third on a sac bunt from Brantley Johnson and a wild pitch. He went on to score on a Pat Meehan groundout to first to tie the game back up. Dayton 2, Ball State 2
Bottom 7th:
Noah Powell was hit by a pitch for Ball State to open up the bottom half of the inning and then advanced to second on a wild pitch. Colin Brockhouse moved Powell over to third with a two-out infield single off a high chopping grounder to shortstop and then Powell scored on a Griffin Hulecki single up the middle. Ball State 3, Dayton 2
 
KEY STATS

• Connor Echols had two of Dayton's four hits on the day, including his first home run of the season, a solo shot over the left field fence in the third inning.
• Brandon Smith and Mitchell Garrity were the other two Flyers to earn a base hit, both coming in the top of the ninth inning.
• Bailey Montoya scored the other run for the Flyers. Montoya opened the sixth inning at the plate by drawing a walk and then advanced to third on a sac bunt from Brantley Johnson and a wild pitch. He went on to score on a Pat Meehan groundout to first.
• Peter Rozman was the starting pitcher for Dayton and went 4.1 innings, allowing just two earned runs on seven hits, while striking out three.
• Tyler Jones pitched the final 1.1 innings for Dayton and was crucial in not allowing Ball State to score any insurance runs in the seventh or eighth inning as Dayton attempted its comeback.
• Dayton pitchers allowed just one extra base hit across the entire four-game series against Ball State.

UP NEXT
Dayton will host Butler on Tuesday, March 20 at 3 p.m. The game is also Dayton's "Taco Tuesday" promotion, where free tacos will be given out to the first 25 Flyer fans in attendance.