Dayton Flyers will play VCU for A-10 championship Saturday

The Dayton Flyers avenged an 8-2 loss to No. 3 seed Rhode Island in the first round Thursday by beating Rhode Island 3-1 in an elimination game Friday in the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament at The Diamond in Richmond, Va.

In between those games, Dayton (24-26) stayed alive by beating No. 4 seed Saint Joseph’s 11-4 on Thursday night.

Dayton will have to win two games Saturday against No. 1 Virginia Commonwealth to win the tournament. The first game starts at noon. There will be a second game at 3:30 p.m. if necessary. ESPN+ is televising all the games in the tournament.

Dayton beat Rhode Island in part because of the pitching performance by R.J. Wagner. He allowed one earned run on four hits in eight innings and struck out six. He didn’t give up a run after the first inning.

Facing an early 1-0 deficit, Dayton scored two runs in the bottom of the first to take the lead. A single by Riley Tirotta scored Marcus Pujols. Tirotta then stole third base and scored on a throwing error.

Dayton added to its lead in the sixth inning. A single by Jay Curtis scored Chris Cabrera.

R.J. Wagner is on 🔥🔥🔥

The #FlyBoys are pumped up 3-1 heading to the bottom of the eighth. pic.twitter.com/vrRWo3tzbU
— Dayton Baseball (@DaytonBaseball) May 28, 2021

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About the Author

David Jablonski

David Jablonski covers the Dayton Flyers and other sports for the Dayton Daily News, Springfield News-Sun and Journal News.