Historic Win For Dayton In The Opening Game Of The 2005 A-10 Baseball Championship

May 25, 2005

DAYTON, OH - Senior catcher Aaron Hepner slugged a three-run homer and outfielder Bryan Chandler's RBI single in the bottom of the seventh inning proved to be the difference as Dayton rallied from a 5-0 deficit to defeat Duquesne, 8-5, in the opening game of the 2005 Atlantic 10 Baseball Championship on Wednesday.

After claiming their first-ever win in A-10 Championship play, the fourth-seeded Flyers (35-21) will face No. 1 seed Rhode Island on Thursday at 12:00 p.m.

"The first two years we went to the [Atlantic 10] Tournament, Dayton had never been there so I think we spun our wheels just trying to get there. This team's been a lot different," said Flyers head coach Tony Vittorio.

"I have a lot of confidence in this group. I think we have a pretty decently talented team that gets some things done."

After Dayton men's head basketball coach Brian Gregory threw out the first pitch under blue skies at Fifth Third Field,

Duquesne jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the top of the first on five hits off UD starter Craig Stammen. The outburst was highlighted by an RBI single by shortstop Steve Maiolo and an RBI double by freshman Eric Morrison. The Dukes (20-33) held a 5-0 advantage after two innings before the Flyers manufactured a run in the third off senior starter Bob Reifschneider (3-7) and Hepner's three-run blast over the leftfield wall in the fourth pulled UD to within 5-4.

After Stammen retired the side in order in the top half of the fifth, junior William Benoit led off the inning with a single and later scored on sophomore Joe McSoley's RBI single to even the score at 5-5. UD went ahead for good with a three-runs in the seventh on four hits, including back-to-back RBI hits by Chandler and McSoley. Stammen then closed the door with a perfect ninth inning to earn his ninth win of the season.

"I didn't think after the first inning that it was going to happen but once that got over with, I knew I just had to bear down," said Stammen, who yielded 10 hits and fanned seven in going the distance for the ninth time this season.

"The offense came through for me and I kind of settled in and got the ball down a little bit more at the end of the game and that helped."

McSoley led the UD attack with three hits, two runs scored and a pair of RBI while Benoit collected two hits. Morrison and Maiolo each had a pair of hits for the Dukes, who will face the loser of Fordham/Richmond on Wednesday evening at 7:00p.m.