DAYTON – The Atlantic 10-leading University of Dayton baseball team travels to the University of Richmond to take on the Spiders in a crucial three-game series this weekend at Pitt Field starting with a doubleheader on Friday, May 3 beginning at 1 p.m.
 
Due to the weather in Virginia this weekend, the Flyers and Spiders will play a doubleheader on Friday and a single game on Saturday, May 4.
 
DRAMATIC SWEEP
Dayton completed its first sweep of the 2024 campaign in dramatic fashion over Davidson on Sunday, scoring two runs in the bottom of the ninth to pull out a 7-6 victory. Senior Michael Adair blooped a fly ball into no-man's land in left field that plated Nolan Watson as the tying run and Alejandro Cazorla as the winner.
 
It marked the second walk-off victory for the Flyers this season (Mason Dobie solo home run, 10th inning vs. Fordham).
 
ALONE AT THE TOP
Senior relief pitcher Nick Wissman is the only pitcher in NCAA Division I baseball who leads (or co-leads) his respective conference in both wins and saves.

Wissman has nine wins on the season to go along with six saves. The Dayton native picked up two wins last weekend in the Davidson series, throwing the final 4.2 innings in the series opener, allowing just one hit while not surrendering a run, and then coming back to throw the final 3.0 innings on Sunday, striking out five.
 
LEAGUE LEADERS
A host of Flyers join Wissman in leading the Atlantic 10 in statistical categories, while the team is also at or near the top in multiple categories.
 
As a team, Dayton leads the league in on-base percentage (.426), runs scored (364), strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.29), walks (231), and hit-by-pitch (98), while also being top three in average (2nd - .305), hits (2nd - 452), home runs (2nd - 54), doubles (2nd - 89), triples (2nd - 12), scoring (2nd - 8.5), slugging percentage (2nd - .491), stolen bases (2nd - 92), strikeouts-per-nine innings (2nd - 9.3), and WHIP (3rd - 1.57).
 
On the individual side, Eddie Yamin IV is near the top in multiple categories, coming in at No. 2 in the A-10 in home runs (12), runs scored (48), and RBI (47). David Pedanou is second in the conference in stolen bases (25), and runs scored per game (1.16), and is also third in triples on the season (3). Nolan Watson is third in the league in slugging (.634) and eighth in hit-by-pitch (12). Ivan Arias still ranks No. 3 in the Atlantic 10 in walks (31) despite playing in only 35 games due to injury.
 
THE MAGNIFICENT DAVID MENDEZ
Freshman phenom David Mendez has continued to lead the Dayton offense, hitting a team-leading .357 with an on-base percentage of .466, while also turning in an OPS of .987. Mendez has reached base in 37 of his 39 career games.
 
The Aldie, Va. native has seven doubles, two triples and four home runs on the season, scoring 39 runs and driving in 38 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 (16).
 
Mendez had a 34-game on-base streak snapped over the weekend against Davidson, but still ranks as the second-best streak this season in all of NCAA Division I among freshmen.
 
ON BASE ANY WAY, ANY HOW
UD leads the A-10 in on-base average at .426 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 (7th nationally).
 
DAY AIR - SUCCESS AGAIN
Though not a record-breaking crowd, the Flyers played their rescheduled game at Day Air Ballpark, home of the Dayton Dragons, in front of 4,312 people on Sunday afternoon.

It marks the second-highest attended Dayton home game in program history (trailing only last season's game against Wright State).
 
WINNING THE WEEKEND
After its sweep of Davidson last weekend,  Dayton has won eight of 11 series (with two ties) this season. The Flyers have defeated Lindenwood, High Point, South Dakota State, Eastern Illinois, Fordham, St. Bonaventure, George Mason and Davidson 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.
 
FAST AND FURIOUS
The FlyBoys are currently 17th in the NCAA when it comes to stolen bases as a team, swiping 92 bags on the season. Junior David Pedanou leads the way with 25 steals (in 28 chances) on the season, while David Mendez is 16-for-17. In total, 15 Flyers have registered at least one steal on the season, while six have stolen five-or-more.
 
With 11 games left on the schedule the Flyers are sixth all-time for steals in a season. Last season the FlyBoys stole 84 bases, good for eighth all-time, and currently have 92. Pedanou's 25 is second-most in a single season in Dayton laurels, trailing only Brian Blasik, who stole 36 bases in 2012.
 
SCOUTING THE SPIDERS
Richmond comes into the weekend in a tie with cross-town rival VCU for third place in the Atlantic 10 standings at 9-5 in league play. The Spiders are 20-24 overall on the season and is coming off a series win at St. Bonaventure over the weekend.
 
Four hitters come into the weekend with averages over the .300 mark, led by D.J. Pacheco (.340). Pacheco has six home runs, two doubles and a team-high two triples to his account, along with seven steals in seven chances. He's joined above the .300 line by Aidan O'Keefe (.324), Phil Bernstein (.321), and Jordan Jaffe (.312). Aaron Whitley, who has only played in 27 games, has a .381 average and a team-best eight home runs.
 
The Spiders have a team ERA of 7.05 on the season. The group has combined to strike out 350 while walking 210 and allowing opponents to hit .304 against them.
 
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