DAYTON, Ohio – The University of Dayton baseball team dropped the first of its two midweek games on Tuesday by an 11-6 margin to Eastern Kentucky. The Flyers record now stands at 8-23, while the Colonels season mark improves to 18-20.

KEY MOMENT
The game was knotted up at 6-6 after seven innings of play, but Eastern Kentucky's offense exploded for four runs in the top of the eight with two outs to break the game open. Peter Rozman retired two of the first three Colonel batters in the inning, giving EKU two outs with just a runner on first base. Tyler Romanik began a streak of four straight singles to score three runs for Eastern Kentucky, and Jonathan Brus came in to relieve Rozman, but walked two straight batters, which forced one run across the plate.
 
SCORING SUMMARY
Top 2nd: (EKU 1, UD 0)
Nick Howie drew a leadoff walk, stole second and advanced to third on a wild pitch. Howie then scored on a Jacob Abbot groundout.
Top 3rd: (EKU 2, UD 0)
Cornell Nixon reached base on catcher's interference, then stole second to move himself into scoring position. Alex Holderbach followed with a single through the left side to drive Nixon home and double the Eastern Kentucky lead.
Bottom 3rd: (EKU 2, UD 1)
Brantley Johnson led off the bottom half of the frame with a single up the middle and advanced to second off a wild pitch. Connor Echols sent Johnson across the plate with a single through the right side of the infield.
Bottom 4th: (UD 5, EKU 2)
Each of Dayton's first four batters reached base, including Michael Cleary, who hit a two-run single into right field to score Tate Hagan and Takahiro Yamada. Mitchell Garrity brought home two more runs for the Flyers with a two-run blast over the right field wall, his third home run of the season.
Top 5th: (UD 5, EKU 4)
With one out and the bases loaded, Tyler Romanik picked up a two-run single into center field to bring the game back within one run.
Top 6th: (EKU 6, UD 5)
Eastern Kentucky loaded the bases with no outs via a single, hit by pitch and a walk, but Peter Rozman retired the next two batters to nearly get the Flyers out of the jam. The Colonels eventually took advantage of the baserunners, however, with an RBI single from Ryland Kerr and a bases loaded walk from Alex Holderbach.
Bottom 6th: (UD 6, EKU 6)
Michael Cleary and Brett Wells opened the bottom of the sixth with a single and double, respectively to give Dayton a pair of runners in scoring position with no outs. Cleary scored on a Brantley Johnson fielder's choice.
Top 8th: (EKU 10, UD 6)
Peter Rozman retired two of the first three Colonel batters in the inning, giving EKU two outs with just a runner on first base. Tyler Romanik began a streak of four straight singles to score three runs for Eastern Kentucky, and Jonathan Brus came in to relieve Rozman, but walked two straight batters, which forced one run across the plate.
Top 9th: (EKU 11, UD 6)
Holderbach hit a sac fly to center field to score Nixon from third.
 
KEY STATS

• Brett Wells went 2-for-4 at the plate today, including his first career extra base hit, to set a new career high for hits.
• Fellow freshman Michael Cleary joined Wells as the only other Flyer with multiple hits in the game.
• Cleary and Mitchell Garrity both drove home two runs apiece, tying a team-best mark for the day.
• Garrity hit his third home run of the season, which now ranks tied-for-third on the team, behind just Pat Meehan and Brandon Smith.
• Meehan went 1-for-5 on the day, extending his team-best hitting streak to six.
• Starting pitcher Jordan Cox struck out seven batters in just five innings of work.

 
UP NEXT
Dayton will travel across town to play Wright State at Nischwitz Stadium in Fairborn, Ohio tomorrow night at 6:30 p.m.