DAYTON – The University of Dayton baseball team will play the first midweek game of the season against Eastern Kentucky on Wednesday. The contest is scheduled to start at 4 p.m. at Turkey Hughes Field at Earle Combs Stadium in Richmond, Ky.
 
SCOUTING THE FLYERS
The Flyers traveled to Evansville for a condensed series against the Purple Aces over the weekend, bringing another series win back to Dayton and improving to 5-1 in 2022. The Flyers lost 11-2 on Saturday before coming back to take both games of Sunday's doubleheader, 4-2 and 5-4.

Juniors Keagan Calero and Alex Neff paced the offense against the Purple Aces. Calero led the team with four hits in the three games, driving in a run and scoring two more. Neff homered for the first time this season and drove in four runs on the weekend.

The Flyers also stole five bases bringing the team's total up to 12 in the first six games which is second in the conference. Junior Omar Daniels stole two over the weekend and Neff stole his third base of the season to lead the team.

Junior Ryan Steinhauer put in another solid start on the mound for Dayton on Sunday, lowering his ERA to 1.00 on the season. Steinhauer struck out five in his five innings. Junior Anthony Hattrup picked up a win pitching four scoreless innings in relief, striking out six hitters, and senior Jake Silverstein picked up his first career save in the series finale. Dayton's pitching staff has a team ERA of just 3.06 to this point in the season, which is second in the Atlantic 10.
 
SCOUTING THE COLONELS
Eastern Kentucky sits at 3-4 through the first two weekends, taking two of three games against Ohio this past weekend. The Colonels got an early offensive output to win on Friday, used a walk-off to win on Saturday, and were shut out by Ohio on Sunday in the series finale.

The Colonels were picked to finish eighth in the 12-team Atlantic Sun Conference. It marks the team's first season in the ASUN after finishing 21-32 in 2021 as a member of the Ohio Valley Conference. EKU was picked to finish tied with Central Arkansas, with Liberty selected as the preseason favorite.

Chris Prothro coaches the Colonels and is entering his second season at Eastern Kentucky, with the 21-32 record coming in his first year in Richmond.

Kendall Ewell headlines Eastern Kentucky offensively. The sophomore was named to the Bobby Bragan Collegiate Slugger Award Watchlist, joining the Flyers Marcos Pujols. Ewell leads EKU with a .333 batting average to go with one home run and seven RBIs, starting each of the team's seven games. Sebastian Greico also has a home run and four RBIs while hitting .313, while Max Williams leads the team with a .462 on-base percnetage to go with his five RBIs in 2022.

Eastern Kentucky's pitching staff features the team's lone Preseason All-Conference selection in Will Brian. This season Brian is 1-0 with a save in three apperances to this point and has yet to allow a base hit in his three innings through the team's first two weeks. He led the team with 10 saves a season ago to along with a 2.48 ERA.

Niko Leontarakis is projected to start against the Flyers and is 1-0 this season with 11 strikeouts in seven innings on the mound. He started the team's game last Wednesday against Kentucky State, going four innings and striking out four while allowing just two hits.
 
PROBABLE PITCHERES
Nate Espelin (0-0, 9.00 ERA) vs. Niko Leontarakis (1-0, 0.00 ERA)
 
MATCHUP HISTORY
This will be the 13^th matchup between these two schools dating back to 2007, with Dayton holding a 7-5 advantage over the Colonels. The last contest came at Eastern Kentucky on March 24, 2021, a 20-13 victory by the Flyers. The Dayton offense hit six home runs in that game, including one by Pujols.