DAYTON -- The University of Dayton baseball team defeated Kent State by a score of 12-5 on Tuesday afternoon at DP&L Stadium. The game was tied at 5-5 when Dayton busted open the game with a seven-run eighth inning to seal the win. The Flyers are now 10-11-1 this season, while the Golden Flashes drop to 9-13 with the loss.

KEY MOMENT
The games was tied 5-5 heading into the bottom of the eighth, but each of the first five Dayton batters of the inning reached on a walk or hit by pitch to force in two runs right away to give the Flyers a 7-5 lead. Tate Hagan missed a grand slam by inches that hit off the top of the wall in right field and two more runs came across on the RBI single from Hagan. A balk, Riley Tirotta double and Takahiro Yamada single all sent in one run apiece before the end of the inning to push the lead to seven.

SCORING SUMMARY
Bottom 1: Dayton 1, Kent State 0
Mitchell Garrity started things off by singling to left and stealing both second and third to move 90 feet from scoring. Garrity was sent across the plate when Eddie Pursinger reached on an error by the shortstop with two outs.

Top 3: Dayton 1, Kent State 1
Ben Carew singled to left and moved into scoring position when a pickoff attempt went into right field. He would go on to score when a Pete Schuler RBI single to right tied up the game.

Top 4: Kent State 4, Dayton 1
Base hits from Pavin Parks and Greg Lewandoski placed runners at the corners for the Golden Flashes and Alex Ronnebaum doubled down the right field line to score both and put Kent State in the lead for the first time of the game. Ronnebaum would also come around to score when Grant Vera singled up the middle with two away.

Bottom 5: Dayton 5, Kent State 4
Benjamin Blackwell singled and Mitchell Garrity walked to give Dayton a pair of baserunners to open the inning. Eddie Pursinger drove home both with a single to shallow left, and after walks from Riley Tirotta and Michael Cleary, the bases were loaded for Takahiro Yamada. Yamda doubled down the line to drive in a pair and put the Flyers back in front.

Top 6: Dayton 5, Kent State 5
Kent State wasted no time tying the game back up, as an RBI single from Ben Carew knotted the game back up at five apiece, driving home Nick Elsen from second, who reached on a fielder's choice earlier in the inning

Bottom 8: Dayton 12, Kent State  5
Each of the first five Dayton batters of the inning reached on a walk or hit by pitch to force in two runs right away to give the Flyers a 7-5 lead. Tate Hagan missed a grand slam by inches that hit off the top of the wall in right field and two more runs came across on the RBI single from Hagan. A balk, Riley Tirotta double and Takahiro Yamada single all sent in one run apiece before the end of the inning to push the lead to seven.

KEY STATS

• Junior Cole Pletka threw 5.0 innings as the starting pitcher and struck out a career-high eight batters on the mound.
• Senior Tyler Henry was the first man out of the pen and earned the win, allowing just two hits, one run (unearned) and walking no batters.
• Freshman Dylan Keller recorded a scoreless ninth to close out the game.
• At the plate, Riley Tirotta, Takahiro Yamada and Benjamin Blackwell all posted multi-hit games with two apiece.
• Yamada (three), Eddie Pursinger (two) and Tate Hagan (two) all picked up multiple RBIs.
• Michael Cleary, who entered the day ranked third in the NCAA for most hit by pitches, was plunked for the 13th time this season in his first at-bat of the game. Cleary is on pace to break the UD single-season record of 21 set in 2009 by Jacob Spaeth.

UP NEXT

• Dayton will travel to Richmond, Ky. tomorrow to take on Eastern Kentucky at 7 p.m. (ET).
• The Flyers will then host Massachusetts at DP&L Stadium this weekend for a three-game set for their second Atlantic 10 Conference series of the season.