Baseball Recap: Flyers Sit At 1-3 After Opening Weekend In South Carolina

Grant Little
Contributing Writer

Dayton baseball went 1-3 in their opening weekend of games in South Carolina from Feb. 16-18. The Flyers defeated Evansville in between two losses to USC Upstate and Wofford. They also lost Friday against High Point University in the opening game of their second weekend series.

“There were a lot of positives from this weekend,” coach Jayson King said. “I thought we played pretty good defense and the hitters did a great job this entire trip.”

In Friday’s season opener,  the Flyers lost 10-8 to USC Upstate. Junior pitcher Austin Cline recorded the loss while junior infielder Pat Meehan led off the game with a home run.

The team also stole four bases in the game. Meehan, freshman third-baseman Riley Tirotta, junior outfielder Connor Echols, and junior catcher Bailey Montoya each swiped one base.

The Flyers went down 10-2 at the end of the fifth inning after allowing nine hits and six walks. In the seventh inning, they got a run back through a RBI groundout from sophomore Takahiro Yamada, and tacked on three more runs in the eighth inning. In the ninth, the Flyers scored twice, making it 10-8 with the bases loaded and one out. A strike out and fly out ended the rally.
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In the 6-3 win over Evansville Saturday, sophomore pitcher Jordan Cox got the win, allowing only one hit and striking out nine through five innings, which are career bests. Redshirt-sophomore Brandon Smith collected the save, closing down the ninth by retiring the side in order.

Meehan led off the game with another home run. He went 3-for-3 and is 7-for-9 (.777) in the first two games of the season with two lead off home runs.

Evansville took advantage of early walks and a double to get a 2-1 lead in the fourth inning. In the bottom of the fourth, the Flyers responded with an RBI from Montoya and with Tirotta scoring on a passed ball.

Smith was walked with the bases loaded to give the Flyers a 4-2 lead. The team added to their lead in the bottom of the sixth with a sacrifice fly from sophomore outfielder Mitchell Garrity and an RBI single from Smith. The Purple Aces pulled one run back in the eighth, but were unable to muster a comeback.

“It feels good to get the first win out of the way and we’ll keep moving forward with the progress of the team and continue to play really good baseball,” King said.

“Jordan Cox did a great job setting the tone. He had Evansville off balance with a strong fastball and a good mix of pitches. We’ve been itching to have an opportunity to use Brandon Smith in the game on the mound to close out a game and he looked awesome out there and earned the save.”
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The Flyers lost their final game Sunday, 4-2 against Wofford. The Terriers took advantage of three walks in the eighth inning to load the bases. A two RBI single to left and then a double smacked in the same direction gave Wofford a 4-1 lead late.

The Flyers scored twice during the game, with both RBIs coming from Yamada in the seventh and ninth innings. Sophomore Josh Nixon recorded the loss on the mound for Dayton and Tirotta went 3-for-3 with a double.

Despite the two losses, King had positive takeaways from his first weekend manning the Dayton dugout.

“There was so much to like about what we saw [from the games in South Carolina]. The biggest thing for us going forward will be throwing more strikes,” King said.

“We can’t allow free passes when the game gets tight, so if we can eliminate those, I think everything is going to fall into place real well for us.”

The Flyers travelled to North Carolina for a three game series against High Point University and dropped the first game, 12-2, as they could not overcome an early deficit Friday.

Photo Taken From Dayton Athletics