DAYTON, Ohio – The Saint Joseph's baseball team jumped out to a big lead on Friday afternoon and held on to beat Dayton, 7-6, at Woerner Field at Time Warner Cable Stadium. Stefan Kancylarz was 2-for-3 with two runs scored and one driven in, while John Brue and Charlie Coghlin added two-run home runs in the fifth.
Saint Joseph's (15-19 overall, 5-7 Atlantic 10) went ahead in the second as Deon Stafford led off the inning with a single and scored from first on a double by Kancylarz. The Hawks then added to the lead in the third as Lansing Veeder led off with a single, stole second, and scored on a single by Matt Maul.
Ryan Pater added a bases-loaded single with two outs in the fourth to up the advantage to 3-0.
The Hawks more than doubled their advantage in the fifth, hanging a four-spot on the board to extend the margin to 7-0. After a walk to Taylor Boyd started the inning, Brue's 10th home run of the season made it a 5-0 game. Three batters later, with Kancylarz on first and one out, Coghlin went deep for his first longball of the year to make it a seven-run lead.
Dayton (11-29 overall, 2-14 Atlantic 10) got on the board in the bottom of the fifth as Aaron Huesman and Zach Schira started the inning with walks before Nick Gobert doubled to left to score both runners and cut the Hawk lead to five. After a walk and an infield single loaded the bases, a wild pitch brought Gobert home and further cut the lead to 7-3.
Schira narrowed the gap further in the sixth with a two-run shot to left that chased SJU starter Pat Vanderslice from the game. The Flyers added a pair of singles in the seventh, but a double play ball and a groundout helped Jack Stover keep UD off the board.
Dayton had one last crack in the ninth as Robbie Doring walked and went to third on a single by Sergio Plasencia, but Veeder induced a double play from A.J. Ryan and a groundout from Glenn Jones to end the ballgame.
Veeder notched his fifth save of the season to preserve the win for Vanderslice, who improved to 4-5 after allowing five runs while striking out seven in five and a third innings. Ben Polansky made the start and took the loss for Dayton, falling to 1-1 after ceding seven runs on nine hits in four and a third innings.
The teams will continue the series on Saturday morning. First pitch has been moved up to 9:00 a.m. due to impending storms expected to threaten the Dayton area.
