EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The University of Dayton baseball team fell for the first time this season on Saturday afternoon 11-2 to Evansville at German American Bank Field at Charles H. Braun Stadium in Evansville. Juniors Ben Jones and Keagan Calero each picked up two hits for the Flyers in the loss.
 
Dayton falls to 3-1 on the season, while Evansville picked up their first win in 2022, improving to 1-4. Redshirt freshman Andrew Casey picked up his first career hit in the contest, while freshman Mason Dobie made his first career appearance in a Dayton uniform, drawing a walk in his first career plate appearance.
 
ON THE MOUND
Graduate student Kenny Serwa opened the game on the mound for the Flyers, going the first 2.1 innings and giving up four earned runs on seven hits and picking up a strikeout. Serwa would pick up the loss putting his overall record for the year at 1-1.
 
Redshirt junior Cody Whitten would enter in the third for Serwa, pitching the next 2.2 innings, giving up two runs on two hits while picking up four of Dayton's eight strikeouts during his time on the mound. Junior Nate Espelin would relieve Whitten to start the sixth inning and go the next two innings for the Flyers, allowing two runs on just one hit and striking out two.
 
Junior Mark Manfredi would finish the game for Dayton, tossing the eighth inning, giving up one run on one hit and striking out one.
 
SCORING PLAYS
Bottom 1: (2-0 Purple Aces)
Evansville opened the first with a leadoff triple. A single through the right side would score the first run of the game. A passed ball would move the runner to second and a two-out single to right center would make it 2-0 Evansville after the first.
 
Bottom 3: (6-0 Purple Aces)
A one-out error by Calero put a runner on three-straight singles would score two runs, making it 4-0 Purple Aces. Whitten would replace Serwa on the mound and after a pair of stolen bases put two runners in scoring position, another Evansville single scored both runs and extended the lead to six.
 
Top 4: (6-1 Purple Aces)
Jones opened the inning with a single through the right side and senior Marcos Pujols advanced him to third with a base hit of his own. After a walk by graduate student Henry Strmecki, Curtis would bring Jones home on a sacrifice fly to left field, putting the Flyers on the board and cutting the lead to five.
 
Top 5: (6-2 Purple Aces)
Calero reached on a bunt single to open the fifth and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Junior Omar Daniels would move him to third on a fly out to right field and two batters later Jones picked up another hit, scoring Calero and making it a 6-2 game.
 
Bottom 5: (8-2 Purple Aces)
Evansville picked up two more on a walk followed by a home run to lead off the bottom of the fifth inning and push their lead back to six runs.
 
Bottom 7: (10-2 Purple Aces)
The Purple Aces had the first three batters reach on a walk, base hit, and hit by pitch. Espelin would strike out the next Evansville batter before another walk and a sacrifice fly to right field made it 10-2 Evansville.
 
Bottom 8: (11-2 Purple Aces)
Manfredi would retire the first Evansville hitter, but a one-out solo home run would extend the lead to nine and finalize the scoring for the contest.
 
UP NEXT
The Flyers will return to Charles H. Braun Stadium on Sunday for a doubleheader to finish the series. First pitch for that contest is scheduled for 1 p.m. Eastern time. Live stats will be available for both contests.