MOREHEAD, Ky. – The Eagles battled on Wednesday in a pair of games at Dayton, but couldn't get over the hump, losing the first game 3-2 and the second 5-4.
Emily Williams had three hits on the day, with
Kirya Kingery,
Taylor Rhea, and
Madi Ogden all chipping in two hits apiece, but the biggest hit of the day came off the bat of
Erin Boyle, who stroked her first career homerun in the opener.
Ogden also had a successful day in the circle, tossing a total of 5.1 scoreless innings of relief over the two games, striking out three batters in the process.
HOW IT HAPPENED (GAME 1)
The Eagles saw their first two batters reach base, thanks to a single from
Trinity Spear and a walk from
Emily Williams, but both were left stranded in scoring position and the Flyers scored in the bottom half of the inning to take a 1-0 lead.
Dayton extended their lead with two runs in the third, but
Jessie Begley limited the damage, recording three straight outs with the bases loaded to keep the game at 3-0.
The Flyers loaded the bases again in the fourth, but
Madi Ogden came on in relief to again strand all three runners. The Eagles would finally break through in the sixth on a solo blast from
Erin Boyle to cut the lead to 3-1.
After Ogden held the Flyers scoreless in the sixth, the Eagles rallied in the seventh, with
Madeline Gailor bringing home
Kirya Kingery to cut the lead to one, but
Peyton Jordan was caught in a rundown and tagged out at third to end the game.
HOW IT HAPPENED (GAME 2)
The Eagles opened the game with back-to-back singles from Spear and Williams, and a third straight single from Kingery brought home Spear to open the scoring. After drawing a walk,
Madeline Gailor executed a double steal with Kingery to stretch the early lead to 2-0.
The Flyers answered right back with two runs of their own in the bottom of the first, and added another two runs in the second and one in the third to take a 5-2 lead.
Dayton loaded the bases with one out in the fourth, but Ogden navigated out of trouble with a pop out and a strikeout to keep the Flyers from adding to their lead.
Kingery and Gailor singled in the sixth, and the Eagles took advantage of a defensive miscue to score Kingery.
Taylor Rhea added an RBI groundout to slice the lead to 5-4, but the Flyers struck out the side in the seventh to secure the win.
UP NEXT
The Eagles return to University Field for their final home series of the season against SIUE. Saturday's doubleheader begins at 12:00 PM, with Sunday's senior day starting at noon.
