DAYTON, Ohio – The University of Dayton baseball team completed a sweep over Davidson with a pair of wins in a doubleheader on Saturday. The Flyers jumped out to a fast start with a 12-1 win in the first game and clinched the sweep with an 8-6 triumph over the Wildcats. Dayton finished with a record of 21-31 (10-14 A-10), which is the most wins both overall and in conference that the Flyers have had since 2014. Davidson finishes the regular season with a record of 32-19 heading into the Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament.
 
WHAT THEY'RE SAYING
Head Coach Jayson King and center fielder Mitchell Garrity spoke about sweeping Davidson and finishing the season strong:




 
KEY STATS

• The first game of the doubleheader marked the second consecutive outing that Dayton had five players post multi-hit games. Brandon Smith led the way with three base knocks, while Mitchell Garrity, Pat Meehan, Connor Echols and Bailey Montoya each recorded two hits apiece.
• Garrity and Meehan were the only two Flyers in the second game with multiple hits.
• Both starting pitchers set career-high marks in strikeouts on Saturday. Senior Peter Rozman struck out seven batters in 5.2 innings, while allowing just one run off five hits. Aaron Ernst threw 7.0+ innings and struck out 10 batters. Ernst broke his previous career best of six by the end of the third inning, when the tall right-hander already accrued seven punchouts.
• Justin Longbrake recorded his first career save by pitching the final three innings of the first game, while Jordan Cox earned the save in game two, which was his sixth career save and ties him for eighth all-time in Dayton baseball history.
• Cox inherited runners on first and second with two outs when he came into the game in the bottom of the ninth to face Eric Jones, Davidson's top hitter and possible MLB draft pick in early June. Cox got Jones to foul out to Takahiro Yamada near the Dayton dugout to seal the Dayton win.
• Brandon Smith, Connor Echols and Tate Hagan all hit home runs in the doubleheader on Saturday. Smith finishes with a team-best nine homers on the year, while Echols and Hagan finish with six and four, respectively.

 
 
SCORING SUMMARY
Game One
Top 1st: (Dayton 2, Davidson 0)
Pat Meehan singled to left, then advanced to third on a failed pickoff attempt and a deep fly ball. He was able to score on a wild pitch during Connor Echols' at-bat, but would've come around to score regardless, because Echols lifted a solo blast over the right field wall.
 
Top 2nd: (Dayton 8, Davidson 0)
Riley Tirotta hit a leadoff single and reached third after he successfully stole second and an error on the throw down allowed him to take the extra base. Michael Cleary was hit by a pitch to place runners on the corners and Bailey Montoya hit a sacrifice fly to right field that allowed Tirotta to score from third. Mitchell Garrity doubled down the right field line to drive home Cleary after the latter stole second base. Pat Meehan recorded his second hit in as many innings with an RBI single to right that allowed Garrity to score. Brandon Smith followed with a two-run home run that cleared the wall in center field with plenty of room to spare. The Flyers were able to manufacture one more run in the inning off a Connor Echols single.
 
Top 3rd: (Dayton 11, Davidson 0)
Michael Cleary and Bailey Montoya both singled to open the inning, then Mitchell Garrity reached on an error that allowed Cleary to score. Garrity and Montoya advanced to second and third, respectively, on a groundout and Montoya came home to score off a passed ball. Brandon Smith had his second straight inning with an extra base hit, driving a ball into the right center gap to plate Garrity.
 
Top 5th: (Dayton 12, Davidson 0)
Bailey Montoya singled up the middle and moved up to second when Taki Yamada grounded out to third base. Mitchell Garrity singled into right center, which was enough to drive in Montoya.
 
Bottom 5th: (Dayton 12, Davidson 1)
Three straight singles to open the inning loaded the bases for the Wildcats and Alec Acosta, Davidson's all-time leader in sacrifice flies, hit a sac fly to drive in the team's only run of the game.
 
Game Two
Bottom 1st: (Davidson 1, Dayton 0)
Andrew Born hit a leadoff triple and scored off a sac fly from Alec Acosta.
 
Bottom 2nd: (Davidson 3, Dayton 0)
Brett Centracchio hit an infield single for Davidson's second straight inning with a leadoff hit and scored when Alex Mardiney doubled down the left field line. Mardiney was able to advance to third on an airmailed throw from Connor Echols in left field and scored the next at-bat off a sac fly from Ward Coleman.
 
Top 3rd: (Dayton 6, Davidson 3)
Brett Wells singled and Takahiro Yamada walked to put runners on the corners with no outs and Mitchell Garrity drove in the first run of the game for the Flyers with a single through the right side. Pat Meehan was hit by a pitch to load the bases and Brandon Smith promptly tied the game with a laced liner through the right side that scored Yamada and Garrity. One batter after Smith tied the game, Tate Hagan gave the Flyers a somewhat comfortable lead with a three-run bomb into right field that nearly made its way onto the golf course behind the Davidson baseball stadium.
 
Top 4th: (Dayton 8, Davidson 3)
Brett Wells was hit by a pitch and stole his second base of the day to move into scoring position, then came across home when Mitchell Garrity blasted a ball off the top of the center field wall for a triple. Pat Meehan had his second RBI single of the game with a hard hit ball through the left side.
 
Bottom 8th: (Dayton 8, Davidson 6)
Cam Johnson led off the inning with a solo home run, then after RJ Wagner struck out his first two batters faced, a string of three consecutive two out hits, including two doubles, brought in two more runs for Davidson before Tyler Jones came in and caught Ward Coleman looking at strike three to halt the mini Wildcat rally.