BUIES CREEK, N.C. – The University of Dayton baseball team fell on Friday afternoon in the series opener with Campbell 8-1 at Jim Perry Stadium in Buies Creek.
 
The Flyers fall to 0-4 on the young season with the loss. Junior Marcos Pujols led the team offensively, going 2-3 with a walk and a stolen base, but UD went just 6-31 at the plate as a team. Dayton also made some mistakes in the field, committing four errors leading to three unearned runs.
 
On the Mound
Senior Hunter Wolfe started the game for the Flyers, going three and two-thirds innings allowing six runs, only four of which were earned, on four hits with three walks and two strikeouts. Junior Dylan Keller relieved Wolfe in the fourth inning, facing two batters and walking them both. Sophomore Nate Espelin allowed the other two runs, one of which was earned, over his one inning of work, allowing two hits in the process.
 
The next four Dayton pitchers finished the game pitching three and one-third scoreless innings. Freshman Nick Rispoli pitched one inning, allowing just one hit and no runs. Junior Thomas Braybrooks relieved him, going one and a third innings without allowing a hit while picking up two strikeouts. Freshman Brock Begesha went two-thirds of an inning without allowing a run and freshman Eli Majick finished the game, retiring the only batter he faced.
 
Scoring Plays
Bottom 1: (3-0 Camels)
Hunter Wolfe started the game for Dayton, but the first four hitters on the Camels got on. A leadoff hit by pitch was followed by a double and a walk to load the bases. A single brought home two runs. Wolfe retired the next three hitters, with the first out bringing home the third run on a groundout to senior Riley Tirotta.
 
Top 3: (3-1 Camels)
Junior Jay Curtis opened the inning with a single through the left side. Senior Mitchell Garrity advanced him to second on a sacrifice bunt and Curtis got to third on a wild pitch. Tirotta reached on an error by the Campbell second baseman, scoring the Dayton catcher and putting the Flyers on the board.
 
Bottom 3: (4-1 Camels)
Wolfe retired the first batter of the inning before walking Collin Wolf of Campbell. That was followed by a double, advancing the runner to third and a groundout to Benjamin Blackwell scored the run making it 4-1 Campbell.
 
Bottom 4: (6-1 Camels)
The first two Campbell hitters were retired by Wolfe before an error by Tirotta extended the inning. The next Camel singled and the first run of the inning score on an error by right fielder Jared Howell. Wolfe then walked the next hitter on the eighth pitch of the at bat. Keller walked the next two hitters to make it 6-1 Campbell.
 
Bottom 5: (8-1 Camels)
Campbell opened the fifth inning with a single with the runner advancing to third on an error by left fielder Chris Cabrera. A groundout to second moved the runner to third and the run scored on an interference call extending the score to 7-1 Camels. Jay Curtis threw out a runner at third to record the second out, but a walk and an RBI double gave the game its final score of 8-1.
 
Up Next:
The Flyers will return to Jim Perry Stadium tomorrow to take on Campbell for the second of three games in the series at 3 p.m.