Blue Devil Baseball Crushes Dayton 9-2

The Dayton Bulldogs fell into a hole early and were never able to recover in a 9-2 loss to Westfield.  

The Blue Devils went on a run in the first two innings, racing out to a 7-0 lead,  and stymied late rallies for the road win, as the Bulldog bats and gloves were uncharacteristically ineffective. 

Westfield [7-1] was led by senior A.J. Murray, who knocked in three runs, including a monstrous shot off starter Tommy Losito that went well over the 330-foot leftfield fence, giving his team an early 2-0 lead in the first inning. Murray, who will be taking his talents to Georgia Tech in the fall, went 1-for-1 with a hit-by-pitch, two walks, two steals, and three RBIs. 

Losito’s day would get worse soon after, as he then walked first basemen Dan Kerr, saw Kerr get a stolen base, and allowed an RBI-triple to Will Riggs. That would be about all Westfield would need, as their pitchers kept Bulldog bats off balanced all afternoon. Dayton could only muster two runs on eight hits, while walking twice and fanning five times.    

As good as their pitching staff was, however, Dayton head coach Mike Abbate said things weren't all bad. Although the outcome wasn’t what he expected, he was quick to tell his youthful team afterwards that even yesterday’s contest can have a silver lining.  

“We didn’t hit spots in the beginning of the game but we did hit the ball well towards the end,” said Abbate. “But we battled. Tommy [Losito] also battled, especially after those first two [innings] when it’s 7-0. But after that we made it a 2-2 game for the last five innings, so that’s a big positive.”   

Indeed, the Bulldogs played Westfield to a standstill following the two-inning outburst but it was said outburst that doomed the Bulldogs. Dayton finally got on the board in the bottom of the third when junior thirdbaseman Matt Roland laced a two-out single to leftfield that scored Nico Izzi. They added another run in the next inning when junior shortstop Tyler Bujnowski roped an RBI-single to score freshman rightfielder Joseph Iuliano.  

But that was as close as the Bulldogs would get, as they botched base-running assignments and left too many men on base.

The physical miscues will be quickly corrected, according to Abbate, and the mental errors will be nixed even quicker.     

“It won’t be that hard [to bounce back] because there’s a game [today] and Saturday—the games usually take care of themselves," Abbate said. "These things are going to happen. The physical [errors] are going to happen and we’ll correct the mental things."  

Roland, who went 1-for-2 with a walk and RBI, said the learning curve shouldn't be as steep since most of the players have been together at some level for years.  

“The team we’ve got here has been playing for a while so all the guys know each other," said Roland, who also pitched two innings, allowing two runs on two hits, three walks, and three strikeouts. "Last year was a new experience for me playing with all those older guys—and it was nice because [the holdovers] were able to bring that leadership back to this team."   

Another of the returning vets, Chas Bohannon, agreed with Roland and said there's plenty of baseball left to play. He's particularly looking forward to Saturday's annual tilt at the Somerset Patriots' facilities and chose to look at the proverbial cup as half-full.  

“We came out shaky but started hitting the ball more towards the end of the game," said the sophomore first baseman, who went 0-for-3. "We definitely started showing more of a bright side towards the end. We’re not happy [with the result] but we are happy in finishing strong."  

The versatile Bohannon, who played rightfield last season and can also put in relief duty, said he learned to be a leader by watching last season's crew. He added he won't let yesterday's loss sit on their shoulders too long.  

“Last year I was just sitting back and looking at how the seniors did things," said Bohannon, who also hurled two scoreless innings, including striking out four of the six batters he faced. "I watched [Alex] Popolani at first base a lot last year and am now trying to do what he did for us...we're looking forward to getting back after it [today] and then the big one [Saturday]."