Ypsilanti, Mich. – The University of Dayton baseball team won its second game in as many days on Wednesday evening with a 9-4 win over Eastern Michigan. The win improves Dayton's record to 16-29 this season, while Eastern Michigan drops to 19-28 on the year.
 
KEY MOMENT
Dayton jumped out to a 4-0 lead by the end of the first and all the way up to 7-0 by the end of the third inning, starting the game off on the right foot and giving starting pitcher Jordan Cox some cushion to work with on the mound. The Flyers are 7-4 this season when leading after the opening inning of play.
 
SCORING BREAKDOWN
Top 1st: (Dayton 4, Eastern Michigan 0)
Mitchell Garrity reached base in his first at-bat for the fifth straight game in the leadoff spot, extending his team-best reached base streak to 23, and advanced to third on an errant pickoff attempt and a stolen base. Connor Echols sent Garrity across the plate with a line drive single into left field. Riley Tirotta dropped a three-run bomb well beyond the left field wall to extend the early Dayton lead to four.
 
Top 3rd: (Dayton 6, Eastern Michigan 0)
Connor Echols and Pat Meehan opened the inning with a pair of consecutive singles to place runners on the corners with no outs. Brandon Smith drove home Echols with a sacrifice fly to left field and after a stolen base, Meehan moved up to third on a balk by the Eastern Michigan pitcher. Riley Tirotta notched his fourth RBI of the day with a the second sac fly of the inning to plate Meehan.
 
Top 4th: (Dayton 7, Eastern Michigan 0)
Brett Well just missed hitting his first career home run, as the freshman from Los Alamitos, Calif., hammered the ball off the left field wall for an inning-opening double. Wells advanced to third on a Yamada groundout and scored off Connor Echols' second RBI single of the day.
 
Bottom 4th: (Dayton 7, Eastern Michigan 2)
Eastern Michigan opened the inning with a single, walk and a hit batsman to load the bases with no outs. A 4-6 fielder's choice allowed the lead runner at third to score and another hit Eagles batter loaded the bases back up with one away. A single to center field drove in another run, prompting Jayson King to make the switch to RJ Wagner on the mound. Wagner struck out the first batter he faced and Brett Wells caught a foul ball hit straight up to end the inning and get Dayton out of the jam.
 
Bottom 5th: (Dayton 7, Eastern Michigan 3)
Similar to how Dayton opened up the top of the third, two straight Eastern Michigan singles gave the Eagles runners on the corners with no outs. RJ Wagner balked during the next at-bat, allowing the runner on third to score.
 
Bottom 6th: (Dayton 7, Eastern Michigan 4)
Jared Kaufmann led off the inning with a double off the center field wall and move up to third on a bunt single by Devin Hager. Hager took off to steal second and Brett Wells threw him out, but Kaufmann scored from third on the play.
 
Top 7th: (Dayton 8, Eastern Michigan 4)
Mitchell Garrity extended his team-best hitting streak to 11 games with a double to begin the inning and Connor Echols sent Garrity across the plate with a double of his own the next at-bat.
 
Top 9th: (Dayton 9, Eastern Michigan 4)
Connor Echols singled through the right side for his fifth hit of the day and advanced to second on a Pat Meehan groundout. Echols scored on a Brandon Smith soft line drive over the head of the first baseman.
 
KEY STATS

• Connor Echols went 5-for-5 at the plate and had three RBIs.
• The five hits marked a new career high for Echols, surpassing his previous best of four, which was set on April 22 of this year against St. Bonaventure.
• Echols also became the first Dayton player to have five hits in a game this season.
• Mitchell Garrity's leadoff walk extended his reached base safely streak to 23 games and he also hit a double in the game to extend his hitting streak to 11, both of which are the longest on the team this season.
• Riley Tirotta's hit his second home run of the season and set a new career high with four runs batted in.
• Since returning to the starting lineup on May 5 after missing 16 starts in April due to a wrist injury, Tirotta has gotten a hit in all four games and is hitting 6-13 (.461) with five RBIs.
• Pat Meehan stole a career-high three bases in the game, all before the end of the third inning.
• Meehan now has 13 stolen bases on the year, trailing only Mitchell Garrity for the team lead. Garrity, who has swiped 14 bags on the year, also had a stolen base in the first inning against Eastern Michigan.
• Starting pitcher Jordan Cox finished with a line of 3.1 IP, 4 H, 2 R (2 ER), K, BB
• RJ Wagner relieved Cox on the mound with one out in the bottom of the fourth, inheriting the bases loaded. Wagner struck out the first batter he faced and got the next to foul out to get out of the jam.
• Wagner finished with 1.2 innings pitched, allowing one hit, an earned run and striking out one.
• Wagner entered the day with just one earned run allowed in his past 17.0 innings pitched across six outings.
• Jonathan Brus, who earned the win, tied a career-high with 2.1 innings on the mound, allowing just one run off five hits in the outing.
• Dom Coconcelli came on in relief of Brus in the bottom of the eighth in his normal role as a left-handed specialist and recorded an out, marking his 16th straight appearance without allowing an earned run. The last earned run given up by Coconcelli was on March 6 against Eastern Michigan.
• Josh Nixon struck out the final two batters in the bottom of the ninth to end the game.
• Wednesday was the second time this season that Dayton has defeated Eastern Michigan. The Flyers also bested the Eagles in the team's home opener on March 6 by a score of 11-9.
• Dayton is now 7-4 this season when jumping out to a lead after the first inning of play.

 
WHAT THEY'RE SAYING:
Dayton outfielder Connor Echols spoke after the team's 9-4 win and his 5-for-5 day at the plate:





 
UP NEXT
The Flyers will host Rhode Island this weekend for a three-game series beginning on Friday at 3 p.m. (ET). Saturday's game, which is scheduled for a 1 p.m. start, is Dayton Baseball's third and final Youth Baseball Day of the season, which will feature a free 30 minute baseball clinic run by the Dayton players and coaching staff. Sunday's game will start at noon and will be Senior Day, as the Flyers will recognize Dom Golubiewski, Danny Hentz, Mason Kutruff, Peter Rozman and Masashi Sakamoto before the game.