April 17, 2009
Box Score
DAYTON, Ohio - Dayton's Cameron Hobson tossed a complete game Friday to power the Flyers to a 6-2 victory over the visiting Saint Louis Billikens in the opener of a three-game Atlantic 10 Conference baseball series at Time Warner Cable Stadium.
The loss dips SLU to 20-17 on the season and 6-6 in the Atlantic 10. Dayton maintains its position near the top of the A-10 standings with a 9-4 conference mark (22-14 overall).
Freshman Ben Braaten also registered three hits for the Billikens, who managed eight hits on the day.
SLU starter Scott Turmail was tagged with the loss despite also pitching a complete game. He scattered nine hits while allowing six runs (three earned). Turmail struck out two and walked none.
Saint Louis cracked the scoreboard in the first to take an early lead. Sophomore Cody Cotter led off the game by taking first after being hit, and he subsequently ended up on third after a stolen base and a groundout. Miller then drove him home with a two-out triple to right to put the Billikens on top 1-0.
But the Flyers, the A-10's top hitting team, would score at least one run over the next four innings to stretch out to a 5-1 advantage. Aaron Dunsmore recorded an RBI groundout in the first, and Dayton scored one of its three unearned runs later in the inning to make it 2-1 Flyers.
A Scott Dunwoody RBI single in the second and a Cole Tyrell RBI grounder stretched Dayton's lead to 4-1. Jimmy Roesinger scored in the fourth to make it 5-1 when a throw by Braaten attempting to squash a double steal went wide.
SLU put a run on the board in the sixth to make it a three-run game at the time. With two outs, Braaten singled up the middle, and Andrew Guerra reached after being hit by a pitch. Junior DH David Blackwell then reached on an error, allowing Braaten to score and cut the Billiken deficit to 5-2.
But that is as close as the Bills would get, and Dayton would tack on another run in the seventh to secure the 6-2 victory.
The Billikens will get another crack at the Flyers tomorrow afternoon when the two teams play the middle game of the three-game series. First pitch is slated for a new time of 11 a.m. (CT).
