DAYTON – The University of Dayton baseball travels to the Sunshine State to take on college baseball powerhouse and current No. 10 Florida this weekend, Feb. 21-23, at Condron Family Ballpark.
 
The Flyers and Gators start the series at 6:30 p.m. on Friday night and follow it with a 4 p.m. first pitch on Saturday and a 12 p.m. start on Sunday.
 
All three games will be broadcast on SEC Network+, with Jeff Cardozo, and Nick Belmonte and BT Riopelle on the call.
 
New Skipper In Town
- Scott Loiseau was announced the new head coach for the Flyers baseball team on June 24, 2024 and picked up his first win at Dayton with a 7-6 victory over Western Michigan on Feb. 15.
- Though serving the 2024 season as the Associate Head Coach at Penn State, Loiseau previously accumulated 14 years as a head coach at NCAA Division II Southern New Hampshire posting a .696 winning percentage.
 
The Season Starts With Dayton
- Thanks to the North Carolina weather forcing a 9:30 a.m. first pitch in the opener, UD played the first game of the 2025 Division I season for the second straight season.
- Playing first made it possible to score the first run in DI baseball for the second straight season. In their first at-bat of 2025, Flyer newcomer Michael DiMartini led off the game with a double and Alejandro Cazorla drove him in in the next at-bat.
- UD also plated the first run in college baseball in 2024, as current sophomore Ryan MacDougall smacked an RBI double.
 
Taking On the Best
- The FlyBoys continue to challenge their squad with a difficult non-conference schedule to get ready for Atlantic 10 play. In playing No. 10 Florida this weekend, it marks the second consecutive season with a Top 10 SEC opponent on the schedule.
- In the last seven seasons, Dayton has played No. 5 Arkansas (2018), No. 9 Georgia (2019), No. 1 Vanderbilt (2019), No. 19 South Carolina (2021), No. 3 Tennessee (2023) and No. 9 Louisville, as well as traditional powers like Campbell, Michigan, Tulane and Virginia Tech.
 
More On Last Season's Vandy Win
- Last season's win over No. 6 Vanderbilt was the first victory over a ranked opponent since defeating No. 23 Charlotte in 2007. It also marked the first win over a Top 10 opponent since 1996 when the Flyers defeated LSU.
- Trailing 5-1 in the eighth inning, now-senior Mason Dobie changed the game's tide, when he rocked a bases-loaded, two-strike ground-rule double to right-center field to bring Dayton within one at 5-4.
- After a walk put another Flyer on, then-freshman Ryan MacDougall lined a game-tying single over the second baseman, but the Flyers weren't finished yet. Then-sophomore Alejandro Cazorla, who started the inning with a single and had already hit a home run earlier in the game, narrowly missed his second homer of the night, doubling to deep left-center field and driving in a pair. A wild pitch would bring in one more Flyer, and when the dust settled Dayton held an 8-5 advantage.
- Reliever Nick Wissman, pitched the final 2.1 innings and picked up his first win of the season. Wissman went on to win 2024 A-10 Pitcher of the Year and was the highest draft pick in UD Baseball history (San Diego Padres, 8th round, 240th pick).
 
Happy Homecoming
- Though no Dayton players call Gainesville or Alachua County home, nine Flyers hail from the state of Florida. Rylan Lujo (Coconut Creek), Ayden Tran (Jacksonville), Alejandro Sardinas (Miramar), Will Newell (Tallahassee), Chris Carroll (Miami), Devin Grazzal (Hollywood), Michael Fortes (Weston), Hector Escobar (Miami), and CJ Bussell (Naples) all call the Sunshine State home.
 
Familiar FlyBoys
- Among the returning FlyBoys from a season ago are starting sluggers Alejandro Cazorla and Mason Dobie. Cazorla finished the 2024 campaign with a .306 batting average and 1.018 OPS, slugging nine home runs and driving in 33 runs in 44 games. Dobie started every game of the season and hit .290 with seven homers, 41 RBI and had an .841 OPS.
- Also returning for UD: Ayden Tran, Will Newell, Chris Carroll, Jacob Veczko, Chris Peguero, Jacob McGovern, J.J. Gatti, Michael Fortes, Bennett LaPalm, Jake Fitzgerald, and Ryan MacDougall.
 
FlyBoys Picked Sixth In A-10 Preseason Poll
- Dayton was picked sixth in the 2025 Atlantic 10 Preseason poll, the league office announced Wednesday, Feb. 12.
- The Flyers were slated just outside the top five, trailing No. 5 Davidson by five points. VCU and Richmond tied as the preseason favorite, each garnering 125 points.
- The Rams, who won last year's A-10 Tournament, received four first-place votes, and the Spiders had one. Saint Louis fell just one point short of the top spot but had the most first-place votes with five. George Washington was selected fourth with 104 points.
 
Scouting Florida
- Florida comes into the weekend as a consensus Top 25 pick, settling in at No. 10 in D1Baseball.com's rankings. The Gators have started the 2025 campaign 4-0 after an opening weekend sweep of Air Force and a midweek road victory over Jacksonville.
- Junior Brody Donay has had an incredible start to the 2025 season, hitting .643 with a 2.420 OPS, slugging four home runs and three doubles, scoring nine runs and driving in six more. Hayden Yost, Bobby Boser, Colby Shelton and Blake Cyr are all boasting batting averages over .300.
- The Gators will roll out RHP Liam Peterson (1-0, 0.00 ERA), RHP Jake Clemente (1-0, 3.00 ERA) and LHP Pierce Coppola (1-0, 0.00 ERA) as their starters this weekend.
- UF advanced to the College World Series a season ago and is a popular pick to return in 2025.
 
Next Up
- Dayton travels for a pair of midweek games next week, taking on Northern Kentucky on Tuesday, Feb. 25 at 2 p.m. and then traveling to Nashville to take on Bellarmine on Wednesday, Feb. 26 at 3 p.m.
 
Home Opener
- Due to snow and temperatures in the teens, Dayton was forced to postpone its first scheduled home game of the season against Northern Kentucky. The FlyBoys will try again next weekend when it hosts Bradley from the Missouri Valley Conference.
- Because of the Dayton men's basketball home game on Saturday, March 1, the Flyers and Braves will play a doubleheader Friday, Feb. 28 and a single game Sunday, March 2.