Olean, N.Y. -- The University of Dayton picked up its second straight shutout with an 8-0 win over St. Bonaventure on Saturday afternoon. Dayton improves to 16-13-1 (6-2 A-10), while St. Bonaventure falls to 6-15 (3-5 A-10) on the year. The win clinches a third straight A-10 series victory for the Flyers to begin conference play. Ben Hughes threw seven scoreless innings, striking out a career-high eight batters and issuing no free passes, while Justin Longbrake came in to pitch the final two frames to earn the save and preserve the shutout.

KEY MOMENT
Dayton held a 1-0 lead heading into the bottom of the sixth inning, but a leadoff single from Branden Myers turned into the game-tying run on third with no outs after Myers advanced on a wild pitch, then error on a pickoff attempt. Ben Hughes locked down and got the next batter to foul out for the first of three crucial outs. A hit by pitch placed runners at the corners, but Hughes struck out each of the next two batters for a huge momentum swing. The Flyers went on to score two insurance runs in the top of the seventh to increase the lead to 3-0.

SCORING SUMMARY
Top 4: Dayton 1, St. Bonaventure 0
Jay Curtis and Riley Tirotta walked, then Marcos Pujols was hit by a pitch to load the bases with one out. Takahiro Yamada hit a deep fly ball for a sacrifice fly to drive in Curtis from third and put Dayton on the board first.

Top 7: Dayton 3, St. Bonaventure 0
Michael Cleary and Benjamin Blackwell both drew walks to give Dayton a pair of base runners, then after a deep fly ball and a Blackwell stolen base, the Flyers had runners at second and third. Eddie Pursinger delivered a clutch two-out single to right field to drive in both runners and give UD's lead some cushion.

Top 9: Dayton 8, St. Bonaventure 0
Mitchell Garrity (double), Benjamin Blackwell (walk), and Connor Echols (single) loaded the bases to kick off the inning with no outs. Eddie Pursinger drove in Garrity after reaching on a fielder's choice, then Jay Crutis singled to send Blackwell across the plate, while Pursinger would scored on a passed ball. Marcos Pujols provided two more runs with a hard hit single through the left side to score Curtis and Riley Tirotta.

KEY STATS

• Ben Hughes started the game on the mound and threw seven scoreless innings, allowing just three hits and striking out a career-high eight batters, while issuing zero walks.
• Justin Longbrake came in and pitched two innings without allowing a baserunner to close out the game and earn his first save of the season.
• Combined stats for Dayton's two starting pitchers this series (Hunter Wolfe and Ben Hughes): 13.0 IP, 0 R, 7 H, 18 K, BB.
• Eddie Pursinger led Dayton in runs batted in for the third straight game after picking up three on Saturday.
• Jay Curtis and Mitchell Garrity extended their team-high hitting streaks to nine and eight games, respectively.
• Garrity and Marcos Pujols had a team-high two base hits and Pujols also contributed two RBIs.

UP NEXT

• Dayton and St. Bonaventure will conclude their series tomorrow at noon as the Flyers look to complete the sweep.