RICHMOND, Va. – The University of Dayton baseball team swept Richmond in a seven-inning doubleheader Saturday afternoon. The Flyers won the first game 3-2 and completed the sweep with a 5-2 win in game two.
 
UD improves to 7-4 in A-10 play and 17-23 overall with a six-game winning streak. Graduate student Ben Olson won his second-straight start and third-straight appearance in the first game, with Dayton coming from behind with three runs on two home runs from graduate student Chris Cabrera and junior Jay Curtis in the last inning to earn the win.
 
Freshman Parker Bard won his second contest of the season, improving to 2-0 in 2021 in game two. Junior Benjamin Blackwell and graduate student Alex Brickman each homered and brought home two runs in the win, and senior Mariano Ricciardi extended his team-leading hitting streak to 20 consecutive games. Dayton never trailed in the second contest and completed the sweep.
 
Brickman's home run was the 50^th of the season for Dayton this year, the eighth most for a team in program history and the most since 2010 when the Flyers hit 63 as a team. UD's pitching staff now sits at 374 strikeouts this season, moving this year's team into fourth place in program history, passing the team from 2009 on the list.
 
GAME ONE
ON THE MOUND
Olson continued his stretch of good appearances, allowing just two runs over six innings and picking up five strikeouts. The lefty has now gone at least six innings in his last three appearances, with each coming with at least five strikeouts and two or fewer runs allowed.
 
Graduate student Justin Longbrake entered in the seventh and earned his first save of the season and the fifth of his career at Dayton. Longbrake did not allow a run and secured the one-run victory for the Flyers.
 
SCORING PLAYS
Bottom 3: (1-0 Spiders)
Richmond led off the inning with a triple into the right field corner, and following a walk, Olson induced a 4-6-3 double play with the run coming home to score breaking the scoreless tie.
 
Bottom 5: (2-0 Spiders)
A leadoff double put a runner in scoring position for Richmond and a bunt advanced him to third. The Spiders got the second run of the game on a sacrifice fly to right field.
 
Top 7: (3-2 Flyers)
Cabrera led off the inning with his fifth home run of the season to cut Richmond's lead to just one run. Two batters later graduate student Eddie Pursinger was hit by a pitch to put the tying run on and Curtis hit his go-ahead home run on the next pitch to give Dayton a 3-2 lead, one the Flyers would not give up, and a game one victory by that score.
 
GAME TWO
ON THE MOUND
Bard got his second start of the season and again pitched well and kept UD ahead. The freshman tossed four innings allowing just three hits and two runs, while striking out two.
 
Graduate student R.J. Wagner entered in the fifth inning and went the rest of the way, earning his first career collegiate save in the process. Wagner went three innings allowing just one hit and striking out three in his scoreless appearance.
SCORING PLAYS
Top 1: (1-0 Flyers)
Blackwell started off the scoring by sending a 2-0 pitch over the fence for his sixth home run of the year, giving UD a 1-0 early lead in the contest.
 
Top 2: (2-0 Flyers)
For the second-straight inning, Dayton hit a one-out home run, this time coming off the bat of Brickman. It was his seventh of 2021 which is good for third on the team in the category and it extended UD's lead to two.
 
Bottom 2: (2-1 Flyers)
Richmond led off the inning with a single to right field. Bard would retire the next two Spiders before a double to right field cut the lead in half.
 
Top 4: (3-1 Flyers)
Junior Marcos Pujols led off the inning with a single to center field and senior Riley Tirotta replaced him with a fielder's choice on a bunt. Cabrera would move him to third with a single up the middle and Brickman drove in his second run of the game with a sacrifice fly, bringing Tirotta home.
 
Bottom 4: (3-2 Flyers)
A walk and a hit by pitch put two on with nobody out. Bard would retire the next two with a strikeout and a fly out to right field before a single through the right side scored Richmond's second run of the game.
 
Top 5: (5-2 Flyers)
For the second-straight day senior Michael Cleary reached on a bunt single. Ricciardi advanced him to third with a base hit up the middle. Blackwell brought Cleary in to score with a double in the right center gap, moving Ricciardi to third as well and Pujols scored him with an RBI groundout to second, making it a 5-2 game and ending the scoring for the day.
 
UP NEXT
Dayton will return for the series finale against Richmond on Sunday at 1 p.m. The game will be streamed with a subscription to ESPN+.