DAYTON, Ohio – The University of Dayton baseball team snapped an 11-game winning streak for Rhode Island on Friday afternoon with a 9-4 win at Woerner Field. Dayton's record improved to 17-29 (7-12 A-10) with its third straight win, while the loss brings Rhode Island down to 19-26 (9-10 A-10) on the year.
 
KEY MOMENT
Dayton trailed 2-1 heading into the bottom of the seventh, but the Flyers offense exploded for a seven-run inning to take a commanding 8-2 lead. Brandon Smith opened the inning with a double off the top of the left field wall and advanced to third on a wild pitch. Following a Tate Hagan walk, Riley Tirotta ripped a ball through the right side of the infield to drive home Smith and tie the game. Michael Cleary attempted a sac bunt to advance both of the runners, but the Rhode Island third baseman mishandled the ball and Cleary reached on an error to load the bases. Bailey Montoya broke the tie with a high groundball that bounced over the third baseman's head and into left field for a two-RBI single. Takahiro Yamada continued the strong start to the inning with a single that dropped in shallow left field to load the bases back up and bring Mitchell Garrity to the plate, who forced home a run after being hit by a pitch for a team-high 18th time this season, which ranks fifth all-time for a single season at Dayton. Connor Echols and Brandon Smith both hit sacrifice flies in the inning and Garrity would go on to score on a wild pitch, capping off the seven spot Dayton put on Rhode Island in the inning.
 
SCORING SUMMARY
Top 2nd: (Rhode Island 1, Dayton 0)
Xavier Vargas drew a walk to open the inning and advanced all the way to third when a throwing error by Taki Yamada on a sac bunt attempt gave Rhode Island a pair of runners in scoring position with no outs. Sonny Ulliana grounded out to shortstop the next at-bat, which allowed Vargas to score, but Austin Cline rebounded to set down the next two Rams hitters to end the inning without any additional damage.
 
Top 6th: (Rhode Island 2, Dayton 0)
Xavier Vargas and Brett McManus hit back-to-back singles to place runners on the corners for the Rams with just one out. Sonny Ulliana hit a grounder to second, which nearly resulted in an inning-ending 4-6-3 double play, but he just beat out the throw to first base, driving home Vargas in the process. Ulliana was caught stealing by Bailey Montoya to end the inning.
 
Bottom 6th: (Rhode Island 2, Dayton 0)
Rhode Island starting pitcher Matt Murphy retired Michael Cleary to open the inning for his 15th straight recorded out of the game, but Bailey Montoya singled to left field to break Murphy's streak. Takahiro Yamada followed Montoya with a double and Connor Echols hit his first of three sacrifice flies of the day to put Dayton on the board.
 
Bottom 7th: (Dayton 8, Rhode Island 2)
Brandon Smith opened the inning with a double off the top of the left field wall and advanced to third on a wild pitch. Following a Tate Hagan walk, Riley Tirotta ripped a ball through the right side of the infield to drive home Smith and tie the game. Michael Cleary attempted a sac bunt to advance both of the runners, but the Rhode Island third baseman mishandled the ball and Cleary reached on an error to load the bases. Bailey Montoya broke the tie with a high groundball that bounced over the third baseman's head and into left field for a two-RBI single. Takahiro Yamada continued the strong start to the inning with a single that dropped in shallow left field to load the bases back up and bring Mitchell Garrity to the plate, who forced home a run after being hit by a pitch for a team-high 18th time this season, which ranks fifth all-time for a single season at Dayton. Connor Echols and Brandon Smith both hit sacrifice flies in the inning and Garrity would go on to score on a wild pitch, capping off the seven spot Dayton put on Rhode Island in the inning.
 
Top 8th: (Dayton 8, Rhode Island 4)
Jackson Coutts drew a one-out walk and Mike Foley singled to center field in Austin Cline's final batter faced of the day. RJ Wagner came on in relief and yielded a two-run triple to Xavier Vargas, but settled in and recorded two straight outs, leaving Vargas stranded on third.
 
Bottom 8th: (Dayton 9, Rhode Island 4)
Michael Cleary singled, Takahiro Yamada was hit by a pitch and Mitchell Garrity walked to load the bases. Connor Echols delivered his third sac fly of the game to give Dayton an insurance run in the ninth.
 
KEY STATS

• Mitchell Garrity opened the game with a line drive single into left field, extending his reached base safely streak to 24 games and his hitting streak to 12, both of which are the longest on the team this season.
• Bailey Montoya (2-for-4, 2 RBIs) and Takahiro Yamada (2-for-3, 2B, R) led the team with two hits apiece.
• Connor Echols was held hitless (0-for-2), but drove in the most runs for the Flyers on the day with three RBIs, all coming in the form of sacrifice flies.
• Riley Tirotta (1-for-4, RBI) recorded a hit for the fifth straight game and drove in a run for the fourth consecutive game.
• Austin Cline threw 7.1 innings on the mound and struck out seven batters, while allowing four runs (three earned) on just five hits.
• Cline has now gone at least 7.0 innings or more in three of his last four starts.
• RJ Wagner pitched the final 1.2 innings of the game and allowed just one hit.
• Dating back to April 18, Wagner has allowed just two earned runs in his last 20.1 innings on the mound (0.89 ERA).

 
WHAT THEY'RE SAYING
Head Coach Jayson King and junior catcher Bailey Montoya spoke after Dayton's 9-4 win:





 
UP NEXT
The series against Rhode Island will continue tomorrow at 1 p.m., which is also Dayton Baseball's third and final Youth Baseball Day of the season. Coach King and the Dayton players will host a free, 30-minute clinic on basic baseball skills for youth baseball players 8th grade or younger. The series concludes on Sunday for Senior Day at noon, where seniors Dom Golubiewski, Danny Hentz, Mason Kutruff, Peter Rozman and Masashi Sakamoto will all be honored during pre-game.