DAYTON – The University of Dayton baseball team fell on Saturday afternoon 9-8 to Rhode Island at Woerner Field at AES Ohio Stadium. The Flyers hit four home runs, including two by senior Jay Curtis in the team's first conference loss of the season.
 
Dayton falls to 10-12 overall and 1-1 in conference play. Rhode Island improves to 4-21 and also 1-1 in A-10 play with the win.
 
The Flyers had three different leads throughout the game and were tied at eight heading to the eighth inning before a sacrifice bunt by the Rams put Dayton behind for good.
 
Curtis led Dayton with the two home runs and four RBIs on the day. Senior Marcos Pujols and graduate student Henry Strmecki both added home runs in the contest to pace the Flyers offensively, as those three alone combined to go 4-for-10 with four home runs and seven RBIs.
 
ON THE MOUND
Junior Anthony Hattrup got the start for the Flyers, pitching the first 3.1 innings on the mound, giving up four earned runs on four hits while striking out two Rhode Island hitters. Sophomore Austin Brush came in to relieve Hattrup and got the next out of the fourth inning before sophomore Parker Bard entered the game.
 
Bard would go the next 1.2 innings, giving up two runs on no hits and striking out a pair. Sophomore Eli Majick would finish the sixth inning for the Flyers, entering for Bard. Majick struck out one in two-thirds of an inning without allowing a run. Junior Nick Wissman faced one batter in the seventh before being relieved by redshirt junior Nick Maue.
 
Maue finished the seventh for Dayton and started the eighth, allowing one run and striking out three for the Flyers. Graduate student Nick Meyer entered the game in the eighth inning, finishing the game for Dayton allowing no earned runs.
 
SCORING PLAYS
Bottom 1: (1-0 Flyers)
Pujols got ahead in the count 3-1 before hitting his fourth home run of the season against the Rams to right center to put Dayton up early 1-0.
 
Top 2: (3-1 Rams)
Rhode Island opened the second with a base hit through the right side. A hit by pitch put two on with one out and two batters later a three-run home run put the Rams up by two.
 
Bottom 2: (3-2 Rams)
Curtis hit his first home run of the game to lead off the second inning for Dayton, cutting the deficit to one.
 
Bottom 3: (5-3 Flyers)
Junior Omar Daniels opened the third with a leadoff single and would steal second. Junior Ben Jones walked to put two on and a groundout by junior Keagan Calero moved both runners into scoring position. Daniels would score on a balk, advancing Jones to third and a sacrifice fly by Pujols gave Dayton the lead back. Strmecki gave the Flyers their third run of the inning on his third home run of the season.
 
Top 4: (6-5 Rams)
Rhode Island led off the inning with a double down the left field line, with the runner scoring on the next play on an error by Jones. Hattrup would strike out the next hitter, with a base hit to right putting two on for the Rams. A walk loaded the bases and a wild pitch tied the game at five. A hit by pitch loaded the bases again, with a sacrifice fly for URI put Dayton back down by one run.
 
Bottom 5: (8-6 Flyers)
Jones led off the fifth with a double down the left field line. Pujols was hit by a pitch two batters later and Curtis hit his second home run of the day, scoring all three runs and giving Dayton an 8-6 lead.
 
Top 6: (8-8 Tie)
A walk opened the inning for Rhode Island and two batters later a hit by pitch brought Majick into the game. A base hit on a line drive off of Majick's glove loaded the bases and two batters later a base hit to center brought two runs home, tying the game back at eight.
 
Top 8: (9-8 Rams)
Maue walked the leadoff hitter bringing Meyer into the game. A successful hit and run to right field put runners on the corners, and a sacrifice bunt brought the go-ahead run in for Rhode Island. The Flyers did not score in the final two chances at the plate, finalizing the score.
 
UP NEXT
The Flyers will look to win the series on Sunday at 11 a.m. at Woerner Field at AES Ohio Stadium.