DAYTON - The University of Dayton baseball team will compete in a midweek contest against Morehead State Tuesday at Woerner Field. First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m.
There will be live stats available as well as a live stream with a paid subscription to ESPN+.
SCOUTING THE FLYERS
The Flyers went 2-3 last week with wins over Akron and Xavier to put the team at 10-18 overall in 2021. UD opened the week with an 18-7 victory over Akron and followed that on Friday with a 4-1 victory behind a complete game from senior
Hunter Wolfe. The Flyers fell in game two of the doubleheader Friday, as well as both games on Saturday. Senior
Riley Tirotta's offensive onslaught earned him the nod for A-10 Player of the Week. Tirotta went 11-19 at the plate and hit for the cycle in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader with two home runs and nine RBIs over the five game span.
Tirotta enters the contest with a team-leading 10 game hitting streak and is one of the offensive leaders for the Flyers, ranking second on the team with a .316 batting average through the team's first 28 games. The third baseman also ranks first or is tied for first on the team in OPS (1.064), runs (26), doubles (7), triples (2), home runs (6), slugging percentage (.612), hit by pitches (10), and on-base percentage (.452). Junior
Benjamin Blackwell leads Dayton with a .337 batting average and six stolen bases. Graduate students
Eddie Pursinger and
Alex Brickman and junior
Marcos Pujols have also been factors from a run-producing standpoint, driving in at least 20 runs each, with the trio and Tirotta combining for 21 home runs.
Wolfe has been the main factor on the mound for the Flyers, ranking first in the conference and 15th in the nation with 56 strikeouts this season. In his past five starts he has allowed just four runs and compiled 50 strikeouts over 34 innings pitched. In his last start he moved into eighth place in Dayton history with 181 career strikeouts and sits just three behind Tom Harrison for seventh. Sophomore
Anthony Hattrup has also pitched well for Dayton, allowing just two earned runs in his last eight innings on the mound. Senior
Andrew Zapka has been the main force out of the bullpen for the Flyers this season with a 0.96 ERA in 9.1 innings in 2021.
SCOUTING THE EAGLES
Morehead State will enter the contest with a 12-11 record after taking two of three games from SIUE. The Eagles won on Friday before splitting a doubleheader on Saturday. That puts MSU's conference record at 4-2 this season in the Ohio Valley Conference, where the Eagles were picked to finish ninth in the Preseason Poll, and had two student-athletes, Stephen Hill and Jon Burghardt, were selected to the Preseason All-Conference Team. Morehead State also claim a win over the top-ranked team in the country in 2021, a win over then #1 Louisville 5-2 in Louisville on March 2.
Offensivley the Eagles are led by Jackson Feltner, who leads the team with a .368 batting average. Feltner also sits second on the team with three home runs and 15 RBIs in 2021. Jack Gardner has been the main run producer with six home runs and 26 RBIs for the Eagles. Bryce Hensor is the third Morehead State player with a batting average over .300, hitting .337, while also being the only one on the team to start all 23 games for the Eagles to this point in the season. Hensor also leads the team with five stolen bases.
On the mound, Jason Goe has been the best starter, leading the team with 36 strikeouts while posting a 3.86 ERA. John Baake is tied for 11th in DI with 14 appearances this season, earning two saves and striking out 29 in 23.1 innings in 2021. Baake is one of three pitchers for Morehead State with at least 10 appearances and one save, joining Grant Herron and Cory Conway. Matt Bettio is scheduled to make his sixth start of the season on Tuesday. Bettio owns a 1-2 record spanning 18.2 innings and 17 strikeouts.
PROBABLE STARTERS
Anthony Hattrup (0-0, 3.95 ERA) vs. Matt Bettio (1-2, 6.75 ERA)
MATCHUP HISTORY
The Flyers are 1-4 all-time against Morehead State. Pujols and senior
Jared Howell each homered in last season's loss to the Eagles. It was Dayton's last game before the 2020 campaign was cut short due to COVID-19
ATTENDANCE POLICY
Based on campus and local COVID-19 protocols and capacity restrictions, Dayton home athletic events will not be open to the general public.
Limited seating is available to guests of Dayton student-athletes (names must be on a pass list for admission). Currently, visiting team fans are not permitted in/at the facility.
Additionally, attendance at Dayton home athletic events will be socially distanced and fans are required to wear masks.
These protocols will be reviewed as the season progresses.
