May 5, 2006

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DAYTON, Ohio - A home run by junior Bobby Getty with two outs in the 11th inning gave Dayton a dramatic 6-5 victory over Charlotte in the opener of a three-game Atlantic 10 Conference series on Friday. With the win, the Flyers (25-19, 13-6 A-10) moved into a three-way tie for second place in the A-10 standings entering Saturday's matchup with the 49ers (29-15-1, 13-6 A-10) at 1 p.m. ET.

UD and Charlotte are knotted with Rhode Island (12-5 A-10) in the A-10 standings just half a game back of St. Bonaventure (13-5 A-10) which won its series opener with Massachusetts on Friday. The Flyer win also snapped a five-game Dayton losing streak.

Getty finished 2-for-5 with a walk to go along with the game-winning blast to right field with the bases empty and two outs in the bottom of the 11th inning. The junior outfielder's third home run of the year capped a comeback from four runs down by the Flyers.

Both teams had nine hits each while three Flyers had multi-hit days. Kevin Miller was 2-for-2 with a double and two RBI while Craig Rohren went 2-for-4 with a double, walk and a run scored.

Michael Massa was 1-for-5 with a run scored and the game-tying RBI to send the game into extra innings in the bottom of the ninth.

Rohren earned the win for the Flyers after pitching 3.1 innings of scoreless relief and surrendering just hits while striking out five. The senior improved to 3-1 overall this year.

Junior Kyle Lindsay started on the mound for Dayton and gave up five runs (three earned) on seven hits over 6.0 innings pitched. Lindsay struck out three batters before giving way to lefthander Cale Ort. Ort threw 1.2 innings of scoreless relief with one strikeout.

After Dayton fell behind 5-1 after an inning and a half, Lindsay settled down to hold Charlotte to just two base hits and two walks over its next four trips to the plate. UD worked its way back into the game with two runs in the fourth and another in the sixth during that stretch.

In the fourth, Rorhen began the rally with a one-out double to left centerfield. Then Michael DeLuca singled through the left side to put runners on the corners. After a strikeout, Miller ripped a line drive to centerfield for a double for a 5-3 game.

Then in the bottom of the sixth inning, William Benoit doubled to right centerfield and Rohren walked for runners at first and second and a trip to the 49er bullpen. After a pitching change, DeLuca laid down a sacrifice bunt to move the Flyer duo forward one base each. A Josh Burt sacrifice fly to centerfield followed and UD trailed by just one run at 5-4 after six innings.

The pitching duo of Ort and Rohren continued the trend set by Lindsay and held Charlotte without a run for the final nine innings of the game. However, still trailing by one entering the bottom of the ninth, pinch hitter Max Navalinski was hit by a pitch to begin the frame and give UD life. Navalinski then moved to second on a passed ball and advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by Roberto Ramos. With the infield in, Massa laced a ground ball off 49er pitcher Erik Walker which bounced through the right side of the infield and allowed Navalinski to score and send the game into extra innings.

While Charlotte threatened with runners in scoring position during the 10th and 11th innings, Dayton also had a runner reach second base with one out in the 10th inning, but did not score setting up a dramatic bottom of the 11th inning.

After Ramos lined to centerfield and Massa struck out swinging, UD has just one chance to prevent the game from reach the four hour mark. Getty took advantage of the opportunity and hit a 2-1 pitch over the right field wall as the Flyers poured on to the field to celebrate a 6-5 extra-inning victory.