Dayton Flyers

EVANSVILLE, Ind. – With three runs in the eighth inning, Dayton rallied to defeat Evansville, 4-3, on Saturday afternoon at Braun Stadium.

Dayton (18-22) snaps a three-game losing streak with its fourth win of the season when trailing after seven innings. Evansville falls to 24-15 after being out-hit by the Flyers, 9-to-5.

Senior right-handed pitcher Tim Bury (4-2) earned the win on the mound after another long outing – lasting 8 1/3 innings of 3-run baseball with five strikeouts. In his last three starts Bury is 3-0 with a 2.08 earned run average. Senior Burny Mitchem closed the door on the Purple Aces in the bottom of the ninth to earn his fourth save of the season. 

Senior shortstop Brian Blasik went 2-for-4 at the plate with a run scored and batted in. Freshman first baseman A.J. Ryan matched Blasik with two hits plus an RBI.

Evansville scored first as two consecutive walks allowed by Bury eventually scored to put the Flyers down 2-0. After the first, Bury would toss six consecutive scoreless innings – including four 1-2-3 innings – before Evansville crossed the plate again.

Dayton got on the board in the fifth, as junior catcher Josh Jeffery led off the inning with a single up the middle. Jeffery was tooled home in the next three at-bats – a single from Bobby Glover, sacrifice bunt from Joe Gayda and an RBI groundout from Blasik.

After the Flyers were retired in order in the sixth and seventh innings, Blasik again spurred more run production with a one-out single in the eighth inning. An RBI double from Ryan tied the game at two and forced an Evansville pitching change as Josh Biggs relieved starter Kyle Lloyd (3-2). Senior Zach Stewart welcomed Biggs to the game with another RBI double which gave the Flyers the go-ahead 3-2 lead, scoring pinch runner Spencer Rohr (for Ryan). Robby Sunderman added a two-out RBI single to give Dayton a much-needed insurance run for a 4-2 lead. 

Bury struck out two batters in the bottom of the eighth, but three singles from the Purple Aces narrowed Dayton’s lead to one run, 4-3.

In the bottom of the ninth, Bury allowed a walk and a sacrifice bunt before Mitchem entered the game in a save situation. With one out and a runner at second base, Mitchem forced a fly-out to center and a groundout to short which sealed Dayton’s 18th win of the season.

The three-game series will be decided on Sunday in a 2 p.m. ET first pitch.

Notes
• After UD’s 4-3 comeback win on Saturday, the Flyers improve to 3-14 when scoring five runs or less and 3-19 when trailing after seven innings.
• Niether team committed an error on Saturday. It is the second time this season that both Dayton and its opponent have gone error-free. The other game was against Oakland on March 16. UD now has four error-free games this season. 
• Brian Blasik recorded Dayton’s only stolen base of the day to match his single-season program record of 23 steals set last season. Dayton leads the nation with 116 stolen bases has at least one stolen base in 12 consecutive games.
• C.J. Gillman went 0-for-5 to end a 12-game hitting streak and 29-game reached base streak. Gillman has started in 99th consecutive game for Dayton.
• Dayton is now 7-7 in one-run games this season. Both games of the Evansville series have been one-run decisions.