Thursday, May 20
Dayton, OH
3 p.m.
George Washington University
at
Dayton
Baseball Visits Dayton With Tournament Hopes Abound
5/19/2021 12:00:00 PM | Baseball
Colonials and Flyers battle for spot in A-10 Championship
WASHINGTON - GW baseball wraps up the regular season this week at Dayton in a critical four-game series to determine A-10 Championship qualification. The teams will square off in single games on Thursday at 3 p.m. and Saturday at noon on UD's campus, sandwiched around a doubleheader on Friday at 4:30 p.m. at Day Air Ballpark, home of the minor league Dayton Dragons.
IT ALL COMES DOWN TO THIS: GW (14-6) and Dayton (8-4) are the only two teams mathematically alive for the second spot from the A-10 South in next week's conference championship. VCU (13-3) has already secured the top seed and will host the tournament. The Buff & Blue need to secure two wins this weekend to clinch a higher winning percentage than the Flyers and a spot in the postseason for the first time since 2018.
START ME UP: GW's starters were excellent once again in last week's series victory over Richmond, authoring three quality starts on the mound. The quartet of Rich Pfluger, Harrison Cohen, Jaret Edwards and Connor Harris allowed only eight earned runs in 24.2 innings for a 2.91 ERA. The latter three all pitched at least six innings with Harris pitching into the eighth for the first time in his career on Sunday.
GET HIM IN: GW continues to lead the A-10, and ranks 23rd nationally, in hitting at .299 despite a relatively quiet weekend at the dish. Even without hits, though, the Colonials have found a way to score as they pace the nation in sacrifice flies with 36. Domenic Boselli and Noah Levin have seven sac flies apiece. The trend has helped the Colonials score a runner from third with less than two outs 68% of the time this year with five regulars - Steve Barmakian, Steve DiTomaso, Anthony Frechette, Noah Levin and Derek Ripp - all doing so more than 70% of the time.
ABOUT THE FLYERS: Dayton had its series last weekend at VCU postponed due to COVID protocols and instead dropped a pair of seven-inning affairs at West Virginia on Sunday. The Flyers (18-25, 8-4) also missed a series at Saint Louis earlier this season due to protocols.
On the field, the Flyers are sixth in the league in hitting at .271 and 10th in ERA at 6.29. Their offense has been predicated on the long ball with 56 home runs and a league-leading 1.30 per game. Riley Tirotta has hit 12 of them to place second in the circuit, while also chipping in 45 RBI and 45 runs scored to place in the league's top five.
GW is 43-17 against the Flyers all-time, having won 10 of the last 12 meetings. The Buff & Blue are visiting UD for the first time since 2016.
IT ALL COMES DOWN TO THIS: GW (14-6) and Dayton (8-4) are the only two teams mathematically alive for the second spot from the A-10 South in next week's conference championship. VCU (13-3) has already secured the top seed and will host the tournament. The Buff & Blue need to secure two wins this weekend to clinch a higher winning percentage than the Flyers and a spot in the postseason for the first time since 2018.
START ME UP: GW's starters were excellent once again in last week's series victory over Richmond, authoring three quality starts on the mound. The quartet of Rich Pfluger, Harrison Cohen, Jaret Edwards and Connor Harris allowed only eight earned runs in 24.2 innings for a 2.91 ERA. The latter three all pitched at least six innings with Harris pitching into the eighth for the first time in his career on Sunday.
GET HIM IN: GW continues to lead the A-10, and ranks 23rd nationally, in hitting at .299 despite a relatively quiet weekend at the dish. Even without hits, though, the Colonials have found a way to score as they pace the nation in sacrifice flies with 36. Domenic Boselli and Noah Levin have seven sac flies apiece. The trend has helped the Colonials score a runner from third with less than two outs 68% of the time this year with five regulars - Steve Barmakian, Steve DiTomaso, Anthony Frechette, Noah Levin and Derek Ripp - all doing so more than 70% of the time.
ABOUT THE FLYERS: Dayton had its series last weekend at VCU postponed due to COVID protocols and instead dropped a pair of seven-inning affairs at West Virginia on Sunday. The Flyers (18-25, 8-4) also missed a series at Saint Louis earlier this season due to protocols.
On the field, the Flyers are sixth in the league in hitting at .271 and 10th in ERA at 6.29. Their offense has been predicated on the long ball with 56 home runs and a league-leading 1.30 per game. Riley Tirotta has hit 12 of them to place second in the circuit, while also chipping in 45 RBI and 45 runs scored to place in the league's top five.
GW is 43-17 against the Flyers all-time, having won 10 of the last 12 meetings. The Buff & Blue are visiting UD for the first time since 2016.
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