RICHMOND, Ky. – The University of Dayton baseball team fell at Eastern Kentucky on Wednesday night 11-3 at Turkey Hughes Field at Earle Combs Stadium in Richmond, Ky. Junior Alex Neff homered for the second consecutive game in the loss for the Flyers.
 
The Flyers fall to 5-2 on the young season with the loss while Eastern Kentucky improves to 4-5 in 2022 Dayton struggled defensively, walking nine on the mound and picking up five errors in the field. Offensively, freshman Mason Dobie picked up his first career collegiate hit and freshman David Pedanou drove in the first run of his career on a sacrifice fly in the ninth inning.
 
ON THE MOUND
Junior Nate Espelin started the game for the UD, going the first 1.2 innings giving up one earned run on two hits and picking up a pair of strikeouts in his time on the mound. Junior Mark Manfredi would finish the second inning and face the first two batters in the third inning, going 0.1 innings for the Flyers, giving up two runs with a pair of walks.
 
Senior Jake Silverstein would relieve Manfredi, pitching the third inning for the Flyers, giving up two earned runs on three hits while picking up a strikeout for Dayton. Sophomore Parker Bard would enter next for Dayton and would pitch the next 2.1 innings for the Flyers, giving up a pair of runs. Bard did not allow a hit but walked five batters and struck out four Eastern Kentucky hitters.
 
Sophomore Eli Majick would enter for Bard in the sixth inning, pitching the next two innings for Dayton allowing just one earned run on two hits while striking out five for Dayton. Sophomore Nick Wissman finished the game for Dayton, getting the final two outs without allowing a run.
 
SCORING PLAYS
Top 2: (1-0 Flyers)
Neff opened the scoring for the Flyers, hitting his second home run of the season out to right field and giving Dayton a 1-0 lead early on in the contest.
 
Bottom 2: (2-1 Colonels)
Eastern Kentucky opened the inning by reaching on an error. A double brought home the first run and after advancing to third on the throw home a ground out to junior Omar Daniels scored the second run of the inning.
 
Bottom 3: (6-1 Colonels)
Manfredi walked the first two batters of the inning and after Silverstein entered in his place, a double to right field scored both runs and made it a three-run game. EKU followed that with a home run, making it 6-1.
 
Bottom 4: (7-1 Colonels)
Bard entered in the bottom of the fourth and walked the first two batters of the inning. A wild pitch pushed both runners into scoring position and a second wild pitch scored another run for Eastern Kentucky.
 
Bottom 6: (8=1 Colonels)
Bard hit the leadoff hitter, who would score after advancing on three wild pitches to make it an 8-1 game.
 
Bottom 7: (9-1 Colonels)
A one-out single and a wild pitch put a runner on second. An error by Neff in right field scored another run and made it 9-1.
 
Bottom 8: (11-1 Colonels)
An error by Majick put the leadoff hitter on second base. A single moved him to third and a sacrifice fly scored him. Two straight singles brought home the Colonels final run of the contest.
 
Top 9: (11-3 Colonels)
Dobie led off the inning with his first career hit to left. Graduate student Alexis Castillo and freshman Lucas Adam both walked to load the bases for Pedanou, whose deep fly ball to left field allowed Dobie to score cutting the lead to single digits. Freshman Matt Maloney would also single, bringing home Castillo, finalizing the scoring at 11-3.
 
UP NEXT
The Flyers will head to Nashville for a three-game series against Belmont. Dayton will play a game on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, with the first contest coming Friday at 5 p.m., Eastern time at E.S. Rose Park.