DAYTON – The University of Dayton baseball team makes its return to the Gem City this weekend with an Atlantic 10 series against Davidson starting on Friday, April 26 at 3 p.m.
 
Dayton and Davidson will play the finale of the series at Day Air Ballpark on Sunday, April 28 at 12 p.m. The Flyers were originally slated to play at the home of the Dayton Dragons on Tuesday, but bad weather in the area forced a change.
 
Friday's game will be streamed on ESPN+ with veteran broadcaster Alex Mikos on the call with former Flyer Kuris Duggan serving as color analyst.
 
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.
 
DOBIE DELIVERS
Junior third baseman Mason Dobie cracked his seventh home run of the season, and 14th for his career, in Tuesday's game against Eastern Kentucky. Dobie now has an OPS of .848 on the season thanks in part to his homers in addition to five doubles and triple. The Meaford, Ontario native has played all 40 games for the Flyers this season, making 39 starts at third base and one in left field.
 
ON BASE ANY WAY, ANY HOW
UD leads the A-10 in on-base average at .425 and ranks 16th in the country on the season. The FlyBoys rank second in the league in batting average (.303) and are first in both walks and hit-by-pitch (6th nationally).
 
WINNING THE WEEKEND
With its series split at VCU last weekend, Dayton has won seven of 10 series (with two ties) this season. The Flyers have defeated Lindenwood, High Point, South Dakota State, Eastern Illinois, Fordham, St. Bonaventure and George Mason so far this year, and split their series at Butler (four games) and VCU (two games).
 
Dayton's lone series loss on the season was to then No. 1-Wake Forest.
 
SCOUTING THE WILDCATS
Davidson is 17-22 overall on the season with a 4-8 record in Atlantic 10 play. The Wildcats won their most recent conference series against Richmond and have won two straight overall.
 
Davidson is led by a trio of hitters with averages over .300, led by Eli Putnam. Putnam has a .365 average with a team-leading 12 home runs to go along with 12 doubles. He's also driven in 46 runs and scored 44 more. Michael O'Shaughnessy (.315) and Jacob Friend (.310) are both over the .300 plateau and have each hit eight home runs.
 
The Wildcats have a team ERA of 7.68 on the season. The group has combined to strike out 295 while walking 227 and allowing opponents to hit .295 against them.
 
FOLLOW THE FLYERS
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