GREENSBORO, N.C. – The University of Dayton baseball team defeated North Carolina A&T for the second straight day, winning 9-7 on Saturday at World War Memorial Stadium in Greensboro. Graduate student Henry Strmecki hit the first home run of the season for the Flyers and junior Ben Jones drove in two runs in the victory.
 
The Flyers improve to 2-0 on the young season, while NC A&T fall to 0-2 so far in 2022. UD spread out the offense in Saturday's win, scoring runs in four different innings on their way to their second straight win.
 
Dayton scored their nine runs on just six hits, capitalizing on a few mistakes made by North Carolina A&T. The Flyers limited the damage from their mistakes, winning despite committing six errors and walking nine.
 
ON THE MOUND
Junior Ryan Steinhauer started the game for the Flyers, pitching into the fifth inning in his first career start at Dayton. The junior allowed just one earned run and struck out six Aggies in 4.0 innings on the mound.
 
Junior Anthony Hattrup entered the game two batters into the fifth inning, getting the next two outs, letting up just one hit and giving up one unearned run on the mound. Redshirt junior Cody Whitten finished the fifth inning and earned the win for the Flyers, going the next 0.2 innings and also allowing just the one unearned run and getting the first out in the sixth inning.
 
Next up was redshirt junior Nick Maue, who finished the sixth inning for the Flyers, not allowing a run in his tenure on the mound. He also got the next two outs of the game and faced one batter in the seventh before sophomore Eli Majick replaced him. Majick faced one batter before sophomore Parker Bard entered the game.
 
Bard did not allow a hit in his 1.1 innings on the mound, giving up two unearned runs and striking out a pair. Graduate student Andrew Zapka finished the game for the Flyers, pitching the final 1.2 innings and giving the Flyers their second win of the season.
 
SCORING PLAYS
Top 2: (1-0 Flyers)
Strmecki opened the second inning with a double to left center field. Junior Alex Neff walked to put runners on first and second and Strmecki advanced to third on a fly out by senior Jay Curtis. Neff than stole second, and Strmecki scored from third on the throw from the catcher, giving Dayton the early lead.
 
Bottom 2: (1-1 Tie)
Steinhauer allowed a leadoff double to open the inning and the run came in to score after a throwing error by Steinhauer on a bunt attempt. The junior was able to prevent any other runs from scoring in the inning and kept the score at a 1-1 tie.
 
Top 3: (4-1 Flyers)
Junior Keagan Calero opened the third with a double to right field, and advanced to third on a wild pitch. Junior Jose Martinez drew a one-out walk, and Calero scored after a throw down to third hit Calero and bounced away, giving Dayton a 2-1 lead. Jones brought Martinez home with a double to extend the lead to two, and senior Marcos Pujols traded places with him, scoring Jones on a double of his own to give the Flyers a 4-1 advantage.
 
Bottom 5: (4-3 Flyers)
Steinhauer came back out for the fifth, allowing a leadoff triple followed by a walk. Hattrup came in and forced a double play, with the Aggies scoring one run to cut the lead to two. An error by Strmecki in left field put a runner on second and another base hit to right field scored him from second, making it a 4-3 game.
 
Top 6: (8-3 Flyers)
Graduate student Alexis Castillo opened by reaching on an error by the first baseman and advancing to second. Calero reached on an error. Junior Omar Daniels dropped down a bunt, and an error on the throw by the Aggies allowed Castillo to score making it 5-3. Martinez drew another walk and Calero scored on a passed ball on ball four to make it a three-run lead. Daniels would score on a sacrifice fly by Jones to make it 7-3 and three batters later, Martinez would also score on a passed ball to give Dayton an eighth run for the second-straight game.
 
Bottom 6: (8-4 Flyers)
Back-to-back one-out errors by Daniels put two on, and a wild pitch put two in scoring position with Maue on the mound. Maue would get a ground out to get the second out, but the runner from third scored cutting the lead back to four.
 
Top 8: (9-4 Flyers)
Strmecki hit his first home run of the year with two outs, sending it over the left field wall and making it a 9-4 game.
 
Bottom 8: (9-6 Flyers)
Back-to-back walks with one out put two on before Zapka entered for Bard. Strmecki couldn't bring in another ball in left field with two outs, allowing both runners to score and bringing Dayton's lead back to three.
 
Bottom 9: (9-7 Flyers)
North Carolina A&T led off the ninth with two base hits before a double play gave Dayton two outs. The runner advanced to third before an error by Jones allowed the run to come home. Zapka struck out the next Aggies hitter, finishing the game and clinching the series for the Flyers
 
UP NEXT
The Flyers will finish out the series against the Aggies on Sunday. First pitch is scheduled for noon at World War Memorial Stadium in Greensboro.