DAYTON – The University of Dayton baseball team fell under the lights at Day Air Ballpark, home of the Dayton Dragons, 7-6 against George Mason on Friday night.
 
The Flyers drop to 11-23 and 1-4 in A-10 play. Junior Marcos Pujols went 2-3 with a three-run home run and senior Riley Tirotta went 2-4 with an RBI as well. Senior Mariano Ricciardi extended his hitting streak to 14 games, going 1-3 in the contest.
 
ON THE MOUND
Senior Hunter Wolfe started the game for Dayton, going 6.1 innings and compiling seven strikeouts. The lefty gave up six hits and six earned runs on the day. Wolfe is up to 70 strikeouts this season and sits fifth all-time with 195 career strikeouts at Dayton.
 
Junior Bryce Hellgeth entered for Wolfe and finished the game, going the final 2.2 innings allowing just one run on two hits and picking up three strikeouts.
 
SCORING PLAYS
Bottom 1: (1-0 Flyers)
Ricciardi led off the inning with a walk and would steal second to get into scoring position. Tirotta put the Flyers in the lead with a single into center field that scored Ricciardi from second base.
 
Top 3: (3-1 Patriots)
George Mason led off the third inning with a walk, a double and another walk to load the bases. Wolfe then kept them loaded with a strikeout before back-to-back singles brought home a total of three runs giving the Patriots a 3-1 lead.
 
Bottom 6: (3-2 Patriots)
Pujols drew a one-out walk and advanced to third on a hit and run double down the third base line by Tirotta. The designated hitter scored on a wild pitch and cut the George Mason lead to just one run.
 
Top 7: (7-2 Patriots)
A leadoff walk followed by a single put two on base for George Mason. A sacrifice bunt advanced both runners into scoring position before a fielder's choice to second base scored the first run of the inning. That ended the day for Wolfe and a triple off of Hellgeth brought two more runs home and a bunt brought home the fourth run of the inning making it 7-2.
 
Bottom 7: (7-6 Patriots)
Graduate student Alex Brickman walked to lead off the inning. After two strikeouts another walk to Ricciardi put two on and two out. Junior Benjamin Blackwell brought home the first run of the inning on a ground ball turned into an error on the shortstop. The fifth home run of the season from Pujols brought three more home and cut the lead to one run once again. The Flyers failed to complete the comeback and fell by this score.
 
UP NEXT
The Flyers will return for a doubleheader with George Mason beginning at 12 p.m. Each game in the contest will be seven innings.