DAYTON – The University of Dayton baseball team fell in the final game before the Atlantic 10 season starts at Woerner Field on Tuesday against Morehead State 10-7.
 
The loss brings the record for the Flyers to 10-19 in 2021. Senior Riley Tirotta extended his hit streak to 11 games with his seventh home run of the season. Tirotta went drove in three runs in the contest. Graduate student Eddie Pursinger went 3-5 with two doubles and graduate student Chris Cabrera also had a multi-hit game, going 2-4 on the afternoon.
 
Junior Benjamin Blackwell also homered for the third time this season, driving in two runs and scoring two runs himself in the game. Senior Mitchell Garrity was hit by a pitch for the 53^rd time in his career, extending his own program record.
 
ON THE MOUND
Sophomore Anthony Hattrup got the start for the Flyers in the midweek contest, lasting 3.2 innings and allowing four earned runs on four hits while striking out five. Senior Jonathan Brus went the next 2.1 innings for Dayton, allowing just one hit and two runs over the span while striking out three.
 
Freshman Ben Petschke pitched the seventh for Dayton, allowing one run on two hits while picking up two strikeouts. He was replaced by freshman Austin Brush who pitched a hitless eighth inning. Senior Jared Howell finished the game on the mound for UD.
 
SCORING PLAYS
Top 2: (2-0 Eagles)
An error by Tirotta led off the top of the second inning, and after Hattrup retired the next two batters for Morehead State, a two-out home run brought home the first two runs of the game.
 
Bottom 2: (2-1 Eagles)
Pursinger led off the inning with a double to left center field. He was followed by a hit by pitch to graduate student Alex Brickman, one of the two times in the contest the designated hitter was hit. Cabrera walked to load the bases and a ground ball to the shortstop from junior Jay Curtis put the Flyers on the board.
 
Top 4: (8-1 Eagles)
A one-out single up the middle was followed by a double and a single to make it 4-1. A strikeout and a walk gave Dayton two outs and brought Brus into the game. A walk, triple, and a wild pitch brought home four more runs bringing the score to 8-1.
 
Bottom 4: (8-4 Eagles)
A base hit by Curtis followed by an error by the left fielder on a line drive from Garrity put two on. Senior Mariano Ricciardi brought Curtis home to score on a groundout to second. Blackwell unloaded his two-run home run over the left center field fence to make it an 8-4 deficit.
 
Top 7: (9-4 Eagles)
Both teams went scoreless over the next few innings, but a leadoff single followed by two stolen bases put a runner on third and a single through the left side brought home another run for Morehead State.
 
Bottom 8: (9-7 Eagles)
The Flyers showed life in the bottom of the eighth. Ricciardi worked a one-out walk, and Blackwell replaced him on a fielder's choice. With two outs junior Marcos Pujols walked and Tirotta brought both of them home with his three-run home run off the scoreboard in left field to bring Dayton within two runs.
 
Top 9: (10-7 Eagles)
Two doubles in the top of the ninth ended the scoring and gave the game its final score.
 
UP NEXT
The Flyers will open A-10 play on Friday with a trip to Davidson. Dayton will play a four-game series with Friday's first pitch scheduled for 6 p.m. UD will play a doubleheader starting at 12 p.m. on Saturday before finishing the conference series with a Sunday contest beginning at 1 p.m.