Dayton Flyers

EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Dayton baseball’s rally falls just short in a one-run, 11-inning loss at Evansville on Friday night in Braun Stadium, 7-6.

A pair of delays made it the longest game of the season for Dayton – four hours and 14 minutes. The day started with a 43-minute rain delay, pushing back the first pitch to 6:43 p.m. CT. With one out in the bottom of the eighth inning of a 6-6 tie game, the University of Evansville declared a campus lockdown which suspended the game further.

When the game resumed, senior right-handed pitcher Burny Mitchem kept Dayton in the game with 3 1/3 innings of relief and four strikeouts. But in the bottom of the 11th, Evansville’s Chris Pearson drove in the game-winning run on a double to right field, scoring Michael Eckstein (unearned) from second. Eckstein pinch ran for Kyle Pollock, who reached base on a Dayton error.

On his 23rd birthday, senior C.J. Gillman went 2-for-5 with three RBI and scored a run. Gillman, the A-10 leader in RBI (43), extended his hitting streak to 12 games and his reached base streak to 29 games. Senior Brian Blasik and freshman A.J. Ryan each recorded three hits on Friday.

Dayton stole five bases on Friday, becoming the seventh game of the season that UD has recorded five or more stolen bases. Sophomore Mel Skcohdopole led UD with two bags on the night.

Dayton out-hit Evansville 16-to-14 in the fourth game with 15 or more hits in a game.

Senior right-handed pitcher Mike Hauschild started on the mound, allowing six runs with five strikeouts in a no-decision outing. It became just the third time this season that Dayton has lost a game in which Hauschild had started (7-3).

Evansville took an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Eric Stamets led off with a single, followed by an RBI-double from Jake Mahon to give the Purple Aces a one-run advantage with no outs. Hauschild would get out of the inning without further damage, going on to retire his next seven batters faced.

Dayton took a 2-1 lead in the fourth inning as Blasik led off with a triple. Gillman extended his hitting streak to 12 games on an RBI single up the middle to drive in Blasik with no outs. Gillman then stole second and advanced to third on the same play after UE committed an error on the attempt to catch him stealing. Ryan drove in Gillman home on a single to left field.

Evansville answered with five runs in the fourth and fifth innings to take a 6-2 lead. Hauschild was denied his third winning decision in three starts when he exited the game after allowing a four-run Evansville fifth inning.

Dayton’s bats kept churning to score four unanswered runs and eventually force extra innings.

In the top of the seventh Dayton posted three runs to inch within one run, 6-5. Skochdopole singled to lead off the seventh, promptly stole second base and advanced to third on a fly-out. Glover hit a hard line drive to third base which scored Skochdopole. With two out and runners on second and third, Gillman knocked in in two of his three RBI on a single to centerfield. The hit forced a UE pitching change to replace lefty starter Cole Isom.

After stranding two Evansville runners on base to end a shutout bottom of the seventh, Dayton added one more run to tie the game at six in the eighth inning. Joe Gayda entered the game as a pinch hitter and led off the inning with a first-pitch single to left field. Spencer Rohr pinch ran for Gayda. A sacrifice bunt from Zach Stewart allowed Rohr to advance to second base. After stealing third base Rohr advanced home on a ground-out RBI from Kuris Duggan.

A bases-loaded double play ended a ripe scoring opportunity for Dayton in the 10th inning – leaving two runners on base. Ryan led off with an infield single to first base, Rohr reached on a bunted single and Skochdopole walked to load the bases. After another Evansville pitching change, Duggan hit into a double play to end the half inning.

The next six batters for both teams were retired in order – aside from Mitchem picking off a runner at first who reached on a four-pitch walk in the 10th.

Pollock then led off the decisive 11th inning with a grounder to short but reached on a fielding error. A sacrifice bunt advanced the pinch-running Eckstein to second base, which set up Pearson’s game-winning double to right field.

Dayton and Evansville will play game two of a three-game series tomorrow at 3 p.m. ET.

Notes
• On his 23rd birthday, senior C.J. Gillman went 2-for-5 with three RBI and a run scored. Gillman, the A-10 leader in RBI, started in his 98th consecutive game for Dayton. The Littleton, Colo., native has started in every UD game since transferring from Garden City (Kan.) Community College for the 2010-11 academic year. Gillman extended his hitting streak to 12 games and his reached base streak to 29 games.
• Dayton stole five bases on Friday. UD leads the nation with 115 stolen bases and have recorded a stolen base in 11 consecutive games. It is also the seventh game of the season that UD has recorded five or more stolen bases.
• With 16 hits on Friday, Dayton recorded over 15 hits for just the fourth time this season.
• Senior Brian Blasik and freshman A.J. Ryan each recorded three hits on Friday.
• Senior right-handed pitcher Mike Hauschild started on the mound, allowing six runs with five strikeouts to increase his career total to 236 Ks. It is just the third time this season that Dayton has lost a game in which Hauschild starts (7-3).
• Senior right-handed pitcher Burny Mitchem received the loss after 3 1/3 relief innings with four strikeouts. His only run allowed – the last run of the game – was unearned.
• Junior Joe Gayda pinch hit in the eighth inning, converting with a leadoff single. Gayda is now 5-for-10 in pinch hitting situations this season.
• Jared Broughton started his first game as the designated hitter – hitting sixth in the lineup.
• Robby Sunderman moved up to the two-hole spot in the batting order for the third time of the season. Sunderman was 7-for-14 with six RBI in the last four games before he went 0-for-5 on Friday to see a 10-game hitting streak end.