RICHMOND, Va. – The University of Dayton baseball team fell in a thrilling extra-innings duel, 5-4, to George Mason in the Flyers' opening game of the Atlantic 10 Tournament Tuesday night at The Diamond.
 
The FlyBoys will now play Thursday, May 25 at 11 a.m. against the loser of the Davidson vs. George Mason game that will be played tomorrow afternoon.
 
Down 4-2 in the bottom of the ninth, UD scratched back to even thanks to a home run from Mason Dobie and a passed ball that Paxton Tomaini was able to scamper home from third.
 
Unfortunately, after each team put up a scoreless 10^th, the Patriots took a 5-4 lead with a two-out rally in the 11^th. The Flyers once again rallied, getting the first two batters of the inning aboard, but the threat fizzled out and sent Dayton to the loser's bracket.
 
UD jumped ahead early, plating two runs on three hits in the first inning of play. Unfortunately, the bats fell quiet after a rally in the second, and the Flyers would fail to score the rest of the game.
 
Senior starter Mark Manfredi was sharp, but his few hiccups proved costly. The left-hander's two walks in the third both came around to score, and the leadoff walk he issued in the eighth inning also scored. Overall, Manfredi allowed two earned runs and struck out six while limiting George Mason to just four hits.
 
BY THE NUMBERS
7.1 – innings thrown by Mark Manfredi, tying a career-high
4 – home runs for Mason Dobie over the last two games
4 – outfield assists on the season for Keagan Calero
2 – hits for both Dobie, Matt Maloney and David Pedanou
2 – extra-base hits and RBI for Dobie in the game
 
UP NEXT
Dayton, as the highest seed to lose on day one, will now wait until day three of the Atlantic 10 Tournament for its next opponent. The FlyBoys will face the loser of Davidson and George Mason Thursday at 11 a.m. The winner of that game will have to play Thursday night at 7 p.m.
 
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