DAYTON - The University of Dayton baseball team hosts Eastern Kentucky on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. for their annual game at Day Air Ballpark, home of the Dayton Dragons, then travel to Mid-American Conference-leading Bowling Green on Wednesday for an afternoon bout at Stellar Field.
 
Rain is forecasted in the Gem City for Tuesday evening. For up-to-minute updates follow the FlyBoys on social media.
 
BACK TO DAY AIR
Dayton has set a new attendance record each of the last two seasons when moving its home field to downtown Dayton to Day Air Ballpark. In 2022, the Flyers beat Ohio State 6-0 in front of 3,859 fans and followed it up in 2023 by taking down cross-town rival Wright State, 8-3, in front of 6,743 Flyer Faithful.
 
ALONE AT THE TOP
Senior relief pitcher Nick Wissman is the only pitcher in NCAA Division I baseball that leads (or co-leads) his respective conference in both wins and saves.

Wissman has seven wins on the season to go along with six saves. The Dayton native picked up his sixth of the season in Friday night's victory at VCU, moving him into sole possession of sixth place for saves in a season in UD Baseball history.
 
THE MAGNIFICENT DAVID MENDEZ
Freshman phenom David Mendez has continued to lead the Dayton offense, hitting a team-leading .362 with an on-base percentage of .481, while also turning in an OPS of 1.024. Mendez has reached base in 34 consecutive games and has been on in 35 of his 36 career games.
 
The Aldie, Va. native has seven doubles, two triples and four home runs on the season, scoring 38 runs and driving in 36 more. Mendez is the only true freshman to rank in the top 10 in the A-10 in average, on-base percentage and stolen bases.
 
Mendez's 34-game on-base streak is best in the country among freshmen, beating out Henry Ford from the University of Virginia.
 
FAST AND FURIOUS
The FlyBoys are currently 19th in the NCAA when it comes to stolen bases as a team, swiping 82 bases on the season. Junior David Pedanou leads the way with 22 steals (in 25 chances) on the season, while David Mendez is 13-for-14. In total, 15 Flyers have registered at least one steal on the season, while six have stolen five or more.
 
With 15 games left on the schedule, the Flyers are ninth all-time for steals in a season. Last season the FlyBoys stole 84 bases, good for eighth all-time, and currently have 82. Pedanou's 22 is tied for fifth-most in a single season, and he trails second place by just one steal.
 
ON BASE ANY WAY, ANY HOW
UD is second in the A-10 in on-base average at .424, trailing only first-place Saint Louis, and ranks 20th in the country on the season. The FlyBoys rank second in the league in batting average and walks and are first in hit-by-pitch (8th nationally).
 
SCOUTING THE COLONELS
EKU is 11-28 overall on the season with an 8-10 record in Atlantic Sun play. The Colonels have lost their last four ASUN series, most recently losing two of three at Lipscomb.
 
Eastern Kentucky is led by a trio of hitters, Connor Davis, Max Williams and Ron Franklin Jr. Davis has a team-leading .358 batting average, while Williams has a .333 mark with 11 doubles and eight homers. Franklin leads EKU with 11 home runs on the season and has the team's best OPS of 1.050.
 
The Colonels have a team ERA of 8.50 on the season. The group has combined to strike out 287 while walking 222 and allowing opponents to hit .293 against them.
 
SCOUTING THE FALCONS
Bowling Green is off to one of the best starts not only in program history, but the history of the Mid-American Conference. The Falcons are 17-1 in the MAC this season, dropping its first conference game of the year to Ohio this past Sunday.
 
DJ Newman leads the powerful BGSU offense, turning in a .359/.656/.447 slash line with a 1.103 OPS. Jack Krause lurks just behind him in offensive production, hitting .351 with eight homers and 33 RBI. Tyler Ross (.348) and Nathan Archer (.325) also have averages over the .300 mark with OPS north of 1.000, with Ross turning in a 1.095 mark and Archer a 1.063. Archer leads the Falcons with 14 home runs on the season.
 
The Falcons have a team ERA of 6.93 on the season. The group has combined to strike out 271 while walking just 152 and allowing opponents to hit .300 against them.
 
FOLLOW THE FLYERS
Follow the Flyers on Twitter: @DaytonBaseball, Facebook: Dayton Flyers Baseball and Instagram: daytonflyersbaseball.