TYSONS, Va. – Late-inning home runs by Alejandro Cazorla and David Mendez broke open a pitcher’s duel and gave third-seeded Dayton a 4-1 win over No. 6 Massachusetts in the first round of the Atlantic 10 Baseball Championship.

The Flyers (33-20) advance to face second-seeded VCU Wednesday at 3:00 pm in the second round. UMass (24-28) falls into the consolation bracket and will play Saint Joseph’s at 7:00 pm Wednesday in an elimination game.

Cazorla’s two-run blast to left center ended what had been a gem of a pitcher’s duel through seven innings. Dayton starter Connor Fennell went 5.2 innings, allowing one run on four hits with six strikeouts. Nick Wissman (10-1) came on in relief and earned the win, throwing 3.1 innings of hitless ball.

Leif Bigelow took the loss, but only after his own strong outing, allowing three runs on four hits, fanning eight batters. Zack Given gave up two hits and one run in one inning of work, striking out two.

The game was scoreless into the sixth inning, when Carter Hanson broke the draw with an RBI-single that drove in Kevin Skagerlind, giving the Minutemen a 1-0 lead. But the Flyers responded in the bottom half of the frame with their own RBI single off the bat of David Mendez, scoring Arias.  <