DAYTON -- The University of Dayton baseball team fell short in its quest to complete the three-game sweep over Massachusetts on Sunday afternoon, falling to the Minutemen by a score of 9-2. The loss snapped a five-game winning streak for Dayton and drops its record to 13-12-1 (4-2 A-10) on the year, while UMass improves to 5-15 with its first Atlantic 10 Conference victory of the season. 

KEY MOMENT
Trailing 7-1 in the bottom of the eighth, Dayton had the bases loaded with the chance to significantly eat into the Massachusetts lead, but after getting one run home on a called catcher's interference, Eddie Pursinger struck out to end the inning.

SCORING SUMMARY
Top 4: UMass 1, Dayton 0
Logan Greene reached on an error, then moved up to third following a single and a wild pitch. Greene would score on a Nolan Kessinger groundout to second base, allowing the Minutemen to strike first.

Bottom 5: Dayton 1, UMass 1
Benjamin Blackwell reached base on a hit by pitch and Mitchell Garrity drove him home with a double that was scorched down the right field line. 

Top 6: UMass 4, Dayton 1
Collin Shapiro opened the inning with a walk and Logan green was hit by a pitch with one away to put another runner on for Massachusetts. Anthony Videtto drove in Shapiro with a double to the gap in right center and Green would score from third on a called balk the next at-bat. Nolan Kessinger singled through the right side to send in Videtto and cap off scoring for the inning.

Top 7: UMass 5, Dayton 1
Justin Longbrake retired the first two batters of the inning, but Collin Shapiro walked and Eddie Hart followed with a triple to add on to the UMass lead.

Top 8: UMass 7, Dayton 1
A leadoff walk came back to bite Dayton once again in the eighth, as Anthony Videtto earned a free pass to open the frame and advanced to third on a pickoff throw gone awry, then scored on a Ryan Lever single up the middle. Lever also scored in the inning after stealing second and taking third following a throw down that went into center field. Connor Smith drove him home with an RBI single through the left side.

Bottom 8: UMass 7, Dayton 2
Dayton had the bases loaded with the chance to significantly eat into the Massachusetts lead, but after getting one run home on a called catcher's interference, Eddie Pursinger struck out to end the inning.

Top 9: UMass 9, Dayton 2
UMass opened the inning by loading the bases despite no hits in the first three at-bats, then Nolan Kessinger picked up a pair of RBI on a single through the right side.

KEY STATS

• Despite the loss, Dayton won the series over UMass with a pair of wins on Friday in a doubleheader, marking the second straight A-10 series won for the Flyers to open conference play after defeating Saint Louis on the road last weekend. 
• The last time Dayton won its first two conference series of the season was in 2011, which came against Temple and UMass.
• Connor Echols led the way with two base hits on offense, marking his third game in the last four with a multi-hit effort.
• Echols now has eight multi-hit games this season, tied with Riley Tirotta for a team best.
• Mitchell Garrity and Jay Curtis both got base hits, extending their hitting streaks to six and five games, respectively.
• Curtis has also reached base in 12 straight games.

UP NEXT

• Dayton's next game will be against Butler at home on Tuesday, Apr. 2 at 3 p.m. (ET) and will be broadcast on ESPN+.
• The Flyers will head north on I-75 the following day to take on Bowling Green on the road.
• Following its midweek matchups, Dayton will be back on the road to take on St. Bonaventure to look and win its third straight Atlantic 10 Conference series.