DAYTON, Ohio – The University of Dayton baseball team fell to Saint Louis on Saturday afternoon by a score of 17-4. The Billikens, who are atop the Atlantic 10 Conference standings, improve to 25-9 (11-1 A-10), while the Flyers are now 8-22 (2-7 A-10).

KEY MOMENT
The Flyers trailed just 3-2 heading into the third inning, but each of the first three Saint Louis batters reached on a hit by pitch, walk and via error, respectively to load the bases with no outs. Nick Reeser made Dayton pay with a bases-clearing grand slam to extend the lead to 7-2. Alex King hit a two-out single to center field that would plate two more runners and give the Billikens a seven-run advantage by the end of the frame.

SCORING SUMMARY
Top 1st: SLU 2, UD 0
Alex King hit his third home run of the series to put the Billikens on the board and Nick Reeser hit an RBI single into center field to score Parker Sniatynski.
Top 2nd: SLU 3, UD 0
With a James Morisano on third, Alex King picked up his second RBI of the day with a sac fly to right field.
Bottom 2nd: SLU 3, UD 2
Tate Hagan and Takahiro Yamada opened the inning with two straight singles to give Dayton runners on the corners with no outs. Michael Cleary grounded out to first to score Hagan, while Yamada advanced to third on a Bailey Montoya single and scored on a Brantley Johnson sac fly.
Top 3rd: SLU 9, UD 2
A Nick Reeser grand slam brought the Saint Louis lead up to five and the Billikens would add two more runs on an Alex King single to center field with two outs.
Top 6th: SLU 10, UD 2
Reeser hit a single to left field to score Sniatynski.
Bottom 6th: SLU 10, UD 4
Brandon Smith and Tate Hagan hit back-to-back home runs in the bottom of the sixth to double Dayton's run production on the day.
Top 7th: SLU 12, UD 4
Morisano and Hernandez both got base hits to open the inning to give Saint Louis runners on second and third with no outs. Morisano scored on an Alex King groudout, while a Parker Sniatynski infield single plated Hernandez.
Top 8th: SLU 15, UD 4
Nick Reeser picked up his game-high seventh RBI with a sac fly to center field and Aaron Case hit a two-run triple down the right field line to extend the Saint Louis lead to double digits.
Top 9th: SLU 17, UD 4
Walks and hit batsmen doomed Dayton in the ninth, as Saint Louis scored a pair of runs without a single hit in the inning or a Dayton error.
 
 
KEY STATS

• Brandon Smith hit his fourth home run in five game to open the bottom of the sixth inning. Smith now has six home runs this season and is tied with Pat Meehan for the team lead.
• Tate Hagan followed Smith's at-bat with a home run of his own, his first of the season, to give the Flyers back-to-back home runs for the first time this season.
• Hagan went 3-for-4 at the plate with the solo home run and two runs scored.
• Austin Cline struck out eight batters in just 4.1 innings of relief on the mound

UP NEXT
Dayton will host Eastern Kentucky at Woerner Field on Tuesday, April 17, with first pitch scheduled for 3 p.m.