RICHMOND, Va. – Buoyed by a pair of six-run innings, third-seeded Dayton overpowered No. 2 overall Davidson in the 2023 Atlantic 10 Baseball Championship elimination round, dispatching the Flyers via a 15-4 margin Thursday afternoon at The Diamond.
 
The Flyers (25-33) move to the consolation bracket semifinals and will face the winner of No. 2 Saint Joseph’s and fifth-seeded Richmond at 7:00 pm Thursday. The loss eliminated the Wildcats, who finish the season at 30-24.
 
A grand slam by Paxton Tomaini, four other hits and an error gave UD six runs right out of the gate. A homer by Marcos Pujols and an RBI single from Tomaini in the second extended the lead to eight and then a solo dinger by Carlos Castillo in the fourth gave Dayton a nine-run advantage before Davidson had tallied more than one hit.
 
The ‘Cats got on the board in the bottom of the fourth on an RBI single from Jake Wilhoit, but two frames later the Flyer offense bared its teeth again, starting with Castillo’s second round-tripper, this one of the two-run variety. A Keagan Calero two-RBI single and a pair of passed ball scores game UD six more in the sixth.

Davidson tried to rally in the eighth, starting with a RBI double to right by Anthony Torreso and a two-run home run by Jacob Friend, but that was the end of the comeback attempt. The ‘Cats loaded the bases in the ninth too, but were unable to push any more runs home.
 
Calero, Pujols, Castillo, Nolan Watson and Tomaini all had multi-hit games for Dayton, led by Castillo’s 3-for-4 day. He and Tomaini led UD in RBI, with three and five respectively. Eli Majick was a wizard in earning the win, allowing six hits and one run with five strikeouts and four walks.
 
Wilhoit was 4-for-4 to pace Davidson, and Friend tallied a team-high two RBI off his homer. Jacob Peaden (1-2) took the loss for Davidson, allowing eight earned runs on 10 hits with three strikeouts and two walks.