TYSONS, Va. – The University of Dayton baseball team got a masterful performance from J.J. Gatti on the mound and Bobby Stang did the heavy lifting for the offense, as the Flyers held off elimination with a 9-2 victory over No. 6 seed Fordham on Thursday afternoon at Capital One Park.
 
Gatti struck out eight and limited the Rams to just one run on four hits in six innings of work. The Rockville Centre, N.Y. native tied his season-high in strikeouts with eight and picked up his fifth win of the campaign.
 
Stang turned in a 3-for-4 performance with three doubles, two RBI and a run scored. Dyrenson Wouters, Ryan MacDougall and Rylan Lujo each had two-hit games, while Ty Mainolfi reached base three times via walk.
 
Dayton jumped ahead in the first inning thanks to a two-out rally, as MacDougall drove in a run with a single and Stang followed up with a two-run double.
 
Lujo made it a 4-0 lead for the FlyBoys with an RBI single in the second, and the score stayed the same until the seventh. Fordham knocked Gatti out of the game with a home run, but UD struck right back with a four-run eighth.
 
With two outs in the eighth, Stang started the rally with a double. After three consecutive free passes, Michael DiMartini came through with a bases-loaded single that brought home a pair. Lujo came through again with another base knock to score the fourth and final run of the inning.
 
Michael Fortes, Jackson Judy and Jacob McGovern threw the final three innings for the Flyers, fanning four as a trio.
 
ON DECK
The Flyers advance to take on No. 4 Davidson on Thursday night. Because of inclement weather in the area, the start time for tonight's game is not official. Stay tuned to the FlyBoys social media pages for updates.
 
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