BOWLING GREEN, Ky. - Senior Nate Espelin tossed four and two-thirds innings of strong relief, but the University of Dayton offense was held in check and the baseball team fell in the finale of its three-game series against Western Kentucky University, 7-1, Sunday afternoon at Nick Denes Field.

Espelin came in as a reliever in the third inning and went on to throw 4.2 innings, allowing just one earned run. The left-handers outing was the second-longest for the FlyBoys in the young season.

Unearned runs proved costly for the Flyers, starting with the first run of the contest. WKU opened the scoring after a double and a two-base throwing error to take a 1-0 lead. The Hilltoppers came back in the third inning and scored five more runs on three hits and an error.

Dayton threatened in the fourth, loading the bases with no one out, but only managed a single run.

BY THE NUMBERS
6 - total hits by the Flyers
5 - strikeouts by Dayton pitching, four for Espelin, and one for reliever Andrew Zapka
3 - errors in the game by the Flyers' defense, leading to four unearned runs.
2 - hits for senior Ben Jones, who is tied for the team lead with a .333 batting average

UP NEXT
Dayton returns to action with a road trip to SEC power Tennessee Friday, Feb. 24 through Sunday, Feb. 27.

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