DAYTON – The University of Dayton baseball team snapped a streak of 17 consecutive losses against Wright State with a 9-3 win over the Raiders at Woerner Field at AES Ohio Stadium in Dayton. Redshirt junior Cody Whitten pitched six strong innings for Dayton to pick up the win for the Flyers.
 
The two teams split the season series, with Dayton improving to 15-17 with the win and Wright State falling to 15-19.
 
The Flyers were led offensively by graduate student Henry Strmecki, who went 2-for-5 with a grand slam that put the Flyers up six runs. Graduate student Alexis Castillo also went 3-for-4 with two runs scored and senior Jake Silverstein also picking up a pair of hits.
 
 
ON THE MOUND
Whitten made the start for the Flyers, cruising through the first four innings before allowing his first run in the top of the 5th inning. Whitten settled back down in the sixth, finishing with six strikeouts while allowing only three hits. It marked his longest outing of the season and he also set a career high in a Dayton uniform with six strikeouts.
 
Graduate Student Nick Meyer relieved Whitten in the top of the seventh, striking out the side. Meyer would go 1.2 innings on the mound, allowing just one run with the three strikeouts. Graduate student Andrew Zapka would finish the game for the Flyers, going the final 1.1 innings allowing one run on four hits.
 
 
SCORING PLAYS
Bottom 2: (1-0 Flyers)
Castillo led the inning off with a single, before junior Jose Martinez moved him to second with a sacrifice bunt. Castillo came around to score after Wright State committed an error on a ball hit to right field by freshman Matt Maloney.
 
Bottom 4: (3-0 Flyers)
Castillo again led the inning off with an infield single before Martinez followed him with a single of his own to left field. Maloney pushed both runners up with a fly ball to right field, putting two runners in scoring position with one out. Redshirt freshman Nick Lukac brought Castillo home and moved Martinez to third with a ground ball to second base, and Silverstein made it a 3-0 lead with a base hit up the middle.
 
Top 5: (3-1 Flyers)
Wright State started the inning with a single, advancing on a wild pitch, a balk, and then another wild pitch to get on the board. 
 
Bottom 6: (7-1 Flyers)
The Flyers loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the sixth thanks to a single from Lukac and walks from Silverstein and senior Marcos Pujols. Strtmecki cleared the bases with a grand slam over the left center field fence, his sixth home run of the season to extend Dayton's lead to 7-1.
 
Bottom 7: (9-1 Flyers)
Maloney was hit by a pitch and would advance into scoring position with a stolen base. Lukac moved him to third on a groundout before a wild pitch would make it a seven-run lead. Silverstein would follow with a base hit and stolen base of his own. An error would advance Silverstein to third and a passed ball would give Dayton a 9-1 lead.
 
Top 8: (9-3 Flyers)
Wright State led off the eighth with a double before Meyer would get the next two outs of the inning. Zapka would enter and three singles would bring home two runs, finalizing the score at 9-3.
 
UP NEXT
The Flyers will head to Butler to take on the Bulldogs on Wednesday, April 20th. First pitch will be thrown at 4 p.m. in Indianapolis.