CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – Behind the most productive offensive outing of the season and a quality start on the mound from right-handed pitcher Mike Hauschild, Dayton baseball defeated Austin Peay 12-1 on Saturday evening at Raymond C. Hand Park on day two of the Riverview Inn Challenge.
Freshman A.J. Ryan led the Flyers’ big day at the plate, going 3-for-5 with four RBI while hitting the first homerun of his collegiate career. Senior Brian Blasik also homered for the Flyers and finished 2-for-5 with three RBI.
Hauschild (2-1) threw seven innings with eight strikeouts to earn his second win of the season and 18th of his career. The senior from Beavercreek now has the fifth-most career wins in program history and is three strikeouts away from becoming the fourth player at Dayton to record 200 or more strikeouts, ending Saturday with 197. Hauschild held the Governors to one run and just three hits.
The Flyers snapped a three-game losing streak to improve to 3-9 on the season. Austin Peay falls to 8-5 after losing its second home game of the weekend. Governors starter Zach Toney (1-2) allowed eight runs and walked four to receive the loss.
Ryan’s first collegiate homerun came in the second inning, taking his first pitch over the opposite field fence to put the Flyers up, 1-0. On the season, Ryan has 12 RBI, 17 hits and a team-best .447 batting average.
With two outs in the third inning, Austin Peay was able to put three runners on base and even the score to 1-1. A walk and a single through the left side set up an RBI single for APSU’s Reed Harper. It would be the Govs only run of the game.
Senior Bobby Glover’s lead-off triple in the fourth inning yielded UD’s biggest inning of the season to date – scoring seven runs to take the go-ahead 8-1 advantage. Four of the seven runs in the fourth were scored with no outs on the board. Sophomore Mel Skochdopole enabled Glover to score from third with an RBI single through the right side. Ryan used a similar hit through the left side to drive in two runs. Senior Mike Coughlin registered his first RBI of the season – a sacrifice fly – to give UD a 5-1 advantage.
Blasik hit his three-run homerun with two outs in the fourth to give UD a comfortable 8-1 lead. It was Blasik’s first homerun of the season and 16th of his career. Glover recorded another hit as UD sent 11 batters to the plate in the fourth inning alone. With two hits in the inning, Glover extended his hitting streak to 12 games.
Dayton added one more run in the sixth inning as Blasik and Hundley successfully teamed up on a hit-and-run. Hundley took four consecutive balls to reach base as the leadoff batter. On a 1-0 count Blasik roped a single to right-centerfield. Hundley advanced home on an error as the centerfielder bobbled his handling of Blasik’s hit.
Senior C.J. Gillman hit a first-pitch double to lead off the UD seventh inning. Dayton tacked on three more runs in the seventh to reach a season-high 12 runs.
Junior Bryce Lahrman and redshirt freshman Matthew Miller pitched the last two shutout innings of Dayton’s win, respectively. Lahrman struck out two in a 1-2-3 eighth inning and Miller struck out one through four batters faced in the bottom of the ninth.
Dayton concludes play in the Riverview Inn Challenge on Sunday at 12 p.m. ET against Northern Illinois (2-11). The Huskies entered the weekend with a 0-11 record, but have won the first two games of the Challenge this weekend against Austin Peay and Arkansas State.
