The Falcons baseball team fell to the Dayton Flyers 3-1 on Tuesday afternoon in their final nonconference game before facing other Mid-American Conference opponents.
“This game, unfortunately, was exactly like our two games over the weekend [against] Niagara,” Head Coach Daniel Schmitz said. “Our pitching and defense were solid, and gave us a chance to win the ballgame. However, our offense failed to show up.”
The game began with Dayton getting a wild pitch on the board in the first inning with a runner on third to take an early 1-0 lead. Dayton doubled their advantage in the second on an RBI double from sophomore catcher Bailey Montoya, then scored again in the fifth inning on a solo home run by Senior outfielder Robbie Doring. The Falcons’ offense started to make a rally late in the game, with Freshman outfielder Jake Wilson getting an RBI single to score Sophomore outfielder RJ Williams, as well as bring the potential winning run to the plate. The Falcons nearly got a walk-off home run from Sophomore catcher Joe McGuinness, but the ball just went foul. The team would be unable to make a comeback as Dayton took the 3-1 win.
The Falcons have struggled with their offense in the past couple of games, scoring a total of three runs in their two game series against the Niagara Purple Eagles last Sunday. The team feels they will need to get prepared on the offensive side going into the conference play this weekend.
“We’ve talked about it now for weeks. Two out of the three phases of the game have been very good for us. However, the third has been non-existent,” Schmitz said. “We need to find a way to execute in the three phrases, or at least play well enough in each to give us a chance. This weekend is the biggest weekend of the season for us. We need to forget about everything that has happened, and find a way to win a series to open up conference play.”
Freshman pitcher Damon Egnor made his first collegiate start for the Falcons, going one and a third innings with one earned run. Freshman Nathan Lohmeier, Junior Kody Brown and Senior Tony Landi pitched shutout innings for the Falcons. Wilson also had his team leading the fourth multi-hit game of the season.
The team will next play in their first conference matchup on the road against the Eastern Michigan Eagles on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Sophomore Chase Antle, Junior Tyler Anderson and Junior Zac Carey are scheduled to pitch on the respective days for the Falcons.
