DAYTON, Ohio – The University of Dayton baseball team is set to open conference play this weekend with a three-game series against George Washington at Woerner Field. The series will open on Friday at 3 p.m. and will continue on Saturday at 1 p.m., which is also the first of three scheduled Youth Baseball Days that Dayton Baseball will be hosting this season. Youth baseball players eighth grade or younger will be able to get autographs and pictures with their favorite Dayton baseball players after the game. The series will conclude on Sunday with first pitch slated for 12 p.m.

PROBABLE PITCHERS
Game 1: RHP Brandon Smith (1-1, 5.51 ERA) vs. RHP Jaret Edwards (1-0, 2.74 ERA)
Game 2: RHP Austin Cline (1-5, 823 ERA) vs. RHP Elliott Raimo (1-2, 2.57 ERA)
Game 3: RHP Jordan Cox (2-0, 4.02 ERA) vs. RHP Nathan Woods (2-2, 2.31 ERA)

ABOUT DAYTON (6-13)

• The series against George Washington will be Dayton's first against an Atlantic 10 Conference opponent this season. The Flyers went 9-15 in conference play last year and are looking to qualify for their first appearance in the A-10 Conference Tournament since 2014, when the team went 14-13.
• Junior Pat Meehan was named as a team captain earlier in the week, joining Brandon Smith, Connor Echols and Austin Cline as the fourth player to have earned that distinction this season.
• Meehan ranks first on the team in home runs (4), doubles (7) and runs scored (13) and also ranks second in batting average with a .293 mark.
• Echols has the best batting average on the team, hitting at a .295 clip.
• Brandon Smith (.292) and Takahiro Yamada (.290) are also right behind Echols for team's best average.
• The team is coming off a weekend series against USC Upstate that saw them come back from a three-run deficit in the ninth inning to win the first game of the series, before dropping the next two games.
• In the team's come-from-behind victory on March 23, Josh Nixon came in to pitch in the ninth inning and earned his second save of the season, which marks a team high.
• Jeff Steuck and Brian Wood both made their first starts of the season this past weekend against USC Upstate at designated hitter and right field, respectively.

ABOUT GEORGE WASHINGTON (13-11)

• George Washington opened up conference play last weekend against La Salle and swept the Explorers to jump out to a 3-0 conference record this season. The Colonials went 14-10 in A-10 play a season ago.
• Mark Osis (.330), Robbie Metz (.320) and Steven Barmakian (.313) are the top hitters on the team in terms of batting average.
• Isaiah Pasteur has hit the most home runs for the Colonials this season with six long balls.
• Pastuer (11) and Osis (12) are the only two George Washington batters with 10 or more extra base hits.
• All three of George Washington's probable starting pitchers for this weekend have an ERA below 3.00, including Jaret Edwards (2.74), Elliott Raimo (2.57) and Nathan Woods (2.31).
• The team's top closer, Will Kobos, has pitched 15.2 innings this season and earned four saves with an ERA of just 1.15