May 27, 2005

Box Score

DAYTON - The Flyer baseball team saw its most successful season in school history come to a close Friday evening at the 2005 Atlantic 10 Baseball Championships with a 4-2 loss at the hands of George Washington in front of 1,026 fans at Fifth Third Field.

UD (36-23) finished with a school-record 36 wins and a fourth place finish at the A-10 Championships after its first-ever wins in post season play. It was the third 30-win season in program history, all under sixth-year Head Coach Tony Vittorio.

Dayton was out hit 10-6 on the day despite a 2-for-4 effort by First Team All A-10 pick Galen Schumm.

Senior Brandon Godzik singled as part of a 1-for-3 performance in his final collegiate game. He also walked in the ninth and gave way to pinch-runner Roberto Ramos who scored on a wild pitch.

Sophomore Joe McSoley added an RBI single and junior William Benoit also scored for Dayton who made just its third-ever A-10 Championship appearance.

The game began two hours and five minutes behind schedule after a rain delay. When play commenced, GW built a 3-0 lead in the top of the first with a sacrifice fly followed by a pair on unearned runs off UD starter Drew Chesebro.

The Colonials added another run in the fourth on an RBI single for a 4-0 advantage before Dayton came back with a run of its own in the bottom of the fifth inning. Benoit ledoff the fifth with a walk. He then moved to second on a ground out before scoring on a two-out RBI single to right center to cut the GW lead to 4-1 after five innings.

After another 40 minutes of weather delays, Dayton senior Brooks Hazelbaker to shut down the Colonial offense for the remainder of the game. Hazelbaker threw two shutout innings with four strikeouts while surrendering just two hits to keep the Flyers in the game.

UD threatened in their final at bat as Godzik drew a one-out walk. He was then replaced by Ramos as a pinch runner who moved to second after a pitching change on a single off the bat of Bryan Chandler. Ramos then advanced to third on a wild pitch to give the Flyers runners on the corners with two outs. Freshman Jeff Mercer struck out swinging on the next at bat, but took advantage of a wild pitch to reach first and keep the game alive as Ramos scored from third. However, the GW reliever struck out his third consecutive batter to end Dayton's season with a 4-2 loss to George Washington.