DAYTON, Ohio – The University of Dayton baseball team started off its final series of the 2018 season strong with a 9-5 win over Davidson on Thursday evening. The Flyers improved to 19-31 (8-14 A-10) on the year, while the Wildcats drop to 32-17 (14-8 A-10). Dayton and Davidson will continue the series tomorrow at 2 p.m.

KEY MOMENT
Dayton took a 3-1 lead heading into the fifth inning, but broke the game open with five runs over the next two innings, all of which were scored with two outs. The Flyers had five hits with two outs in the fifth and sixth, including a two-run home run from Connor Echols that brought the score up to 6-1.
 
SCORING SUMMARY
Top 2nd: (Dayton 1, Davidson 0)
Tate Hagan put Dayton on the scoreboard first with a solo home run to right field, Hagan's third round-tripper this season.
 
Top 3rd: (Dayton 3, Davidson 0)
Bailey Montoya opened the inning with his first home run of the season and he was followed by a pair of singles from Takahiro Yamada and Mitchell Garrity that resulted in runners on the corners for the Flyers. Brandon Smith drove in Yamada with an RBI single to left, extending Dayton's early lead to three.
 
Bottom 4th: (Dayton 3, Davidson 1)
Justin Lebek hit a solo home run to open the inning to put the Wildcats on the board.
 
Top 5th: (Dayton 7, Davidson 1)
Bailey Montoya and Takahiro Yamada were both retired to bring Mitchell Garrity up with two outs and nobody out. Garrity walked to reach base, then Pat Meehan drove him home with a double down the left field line for the first of three straight two-out hits for the Flyers. Brandon Smith brought Meehan across home with a single down the line and Connor Echols blasted a two-run bomb well beyond the left field wall.
 
Bottom 5th: (Dayton 7, Davidson 2)
Austin Cline retired the first two batters he faced in the inning and nearly set down the side in order, but Alec Acosta reached on a Takahiro Yamada error. Acosta advanced to second on an Eric Jones walk, then scored when Brett Centracchio hit a single into center.
 
Top 6th: (Dayton 8, Davidson 2)
Dayton was able to produce a run with two outs for the second straight inning, as Bailey Montoya hit a single into the left-center gap and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Takahiro Yamada followed with a single of his own into left field that drove in Montoya, who outhustled the throw from the Davidson outfielder.
 
Bottom 6th: (Dayton 8, Davidson 3)
Davidson threatened Dayton's lead when three base hits to open the inning gave the Wildcats the bases loaded with no outs. Austin Cline showed strong composure on the mound to get out of the jam by allowing just one run in the frame off a fielder's choice and setting down two straight batters to end the inning.
 
Top 7th: (Dayton 9, Davidson 3)
Pat Meehan reached third when his leadoff bunt single was accompanied by a pair of Davidson throwing errors, allowing him to take the extra two bases. Brandon Smith picked up his third RBI of the game with a sac fly to center field.

Bottom 9th: (Dayton 9, Davidson 5)
Eric Jones hit a two-run home run to left field, but it was too little, too late for the Wildcats, who dropped the contest by a 9-5 margin.

KEY STATS

• Connor Echols went 3-for-4 at the plate to lead the team in hits, marking his 15th multi-hit game this season and his fourth with three hits or more.
• Takahiro Yamada was one of four others Flyers in addition to Echols to record a multi-hit game with a 2-for-4 performance that pushed his batting average above .300 and also extended his season-long hitting streak to 10 games.
• Brandon Smith, Bailey Montoya and Pat Meehan were the other three players with two hits in the game.
• Smith's three runs batted in were a team high on Thursday, pushing his team-leading total to 37 RBI this season.
• Montoya was one of three players to hit a home run, as Echols and Tate Hagan also left the yard, marking the third time this season that the Flyers have hit three or more home runs in a game.
• Austin Cline threw 7.0 innings on the mound, allowing just three runs (two earned) off eight hits, while striking out six.

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