DAYTON – The University of Dayton baseball team completed a four-game sweep of George Washington on Saturday afternoon, with a 14-9 victory at Woerner Field.
 
The team celebrated Senior Day before the game, honoring the 16 seniors on the roster prior to the first pitch.
 
The Flyers complete the regular season with a 12-4 conference record and now sit at 22-25 overall heading to the Atlantic 10 Championship next weekend.
 
The Flyers hit four home runs on the afternoon, including two by graduate student Alex Brickman on the way to the team's eleventh-consecutive conference win. Brickman finished the day 2-for-5 with three RBIs. Senior Riley Tirotta also homered in a four-RBI day at the plate. The senior now has 14 home runs on the season, the fifth most in a season in program history. Junior Marcos Pujols hit his third home run of the series as well and drove in four RBIs. In four games against the Colonials, Pujols went 10-for-14 with three home runs and nine RBIs.
 
The four big flies put Dayton at 65 this season, the third most by a team in program history. In 1993, Dayton hit 71 home runs and the program record is 77, which was accomplished in 2009. Senior Mariano Ricciardi also extended his on-base streak to 33 consecutive games, going 3-for-4 on the afternoon.

The team is also up to 407 strikeouts on the mound, which is also third by a team in program history. The 2011 team had 429 strikeouts and the program record is 491 set by the team in 2019.
 
ON THE MOUND
Freshman Parker Bard started the game and earned his third win of the season, going five innings and allowing just three earned runs while picking up three strikeouts on the contest. He was relieved by graduate student Tyler Jones. Jones made his 82^nd career appearance, which moves him into second place all-time, passing Brian Heitkamp and now trailing just Burny Mitchem, who had 88 from 2008-2012.
 
Jones would go two innings, allowing no earned runs and just one hit while picking up a strikeout. Senior Cole Pletka came in to start the eighth inning, pitching two-thirds of an inning and striking out two while allowing two runs. Freshman Ben Petschke finished the game on the mound, striking out three over the next 1.1 innings without allowing a hit.
 
SCORING PLAYS
Top 1: (3-0 Colonials)
George Washington got on the board, with a leadoff walk followed by a sacrifice bunt, moving the runner to second. Two batters later a single to left field brought home the first run of the game. Another walk followed by a double brought two more runs home making it 3-0 George Washington.
 
Bottom 1: (3-1 Colonials)
Ricciardi wasted no time extending his on-base streak to 33 with a leadoff single. A walk by junior Benjamin Blackwell put two on and Pujols loaded the bases with a single to right field. Tirotta would cut the lead to two with an RBI groundout to second base.
 
Bottom 2: (7-3 Flyers)
Graduate student Eddie Pursinger led off the inning with a walk. Freshman Chase Melnick would reach on an infield single and both would move up a base with a sacrifice bunt from senior Michael Cleary. Ricciardi would walk to load the bases and Blackwell brought the second run of the game home with a hit by pitch. Pujols hit a no-doubt grand slam out to right field to clear the bases and give Dayton a 6-3 lead. Tirotta would follow that with a double down the left field line and a single by Cabrera would plate the sixth run of the inning, giving the Flyers a four-run lead.
 
Top 4: (7-4 Flyers)
A one-out double to right center was followed two batters later by an error by Tirotta on a throw to first base, allowing the run to score and cutting the lead to three.
 
Bottom 4: (8-4 Flyers)
Pujols and Tirotta led off the inning with back-to-back singles and Cabrera walked to load the bases. Another walk by Pursinger brought home the eighth run of the game, pushing the lead back to four runs.
 
Bottom 5: (13-4 Flyers)
Ricciardi hit a one-out infield single and Blackwell followed that with a single of his own. Tirotta brought all three runs home to score with his 14^th home run of the season to left center field making it 11-4. Cabrera walked and Brickman hit the team's third home run of the game to right field to make it a nine-run game.
 
Top 7: (13-7 Flyers)
George Washington led off the inning with a double. After a fielding error by Blackwell scored one run another error on Jones brought the second run of the inning home and moved another runner to second. Back-to-back groundouts moved the runner to third and then in to score cutting Dayton's lead to six.
 
Bottom 7: (14-7 Flyers)
Brickman's second home run of the afternoon and third in his last two games put the final run on the board for the Flyers.
 
Top 8: (14-9 Flyers)
A one-out walk followed by a two-run home run gave the game its final score of 14-9, as Petschke did not allow any more runs to score in the contest.
 
UP NEXT:
The Flyers will head to Richmond, Va. for the 2021 Atlantic 10 Championship, which starts next Thursday, May 27 and extends to Saturday, May 29. All games will be broadcast and can be watched with a subscription to ESPN+.