Behind seven strong innings from starting pitcher Sam Brunner, and a 13-hit performance by the offense, the Dayton Flyers break their string of ignominy with a win over High Point.
Dayton – They say that nothing last forever, good or bad.
Which means that Flyer baseball coach Tony Vittorio’s office should be open Monday morning for candy and flowers, and cards of continued well wishes.
The Flyers broke their seven-game losing streak Sunday afternoon with a 5-1 win over High Point College (7-4), in the furniture capital of America (High Point, North Carolina), but no one came home in recliner mode. There’s plenty of work left to do…plenty left to prove.
Senior starter Sam Brunner was the pitching standout, throwing seven shutout innings, allowing three hits while striking out four.
Third baseman Robbie Doring was the hitting highlight, stroking a two-run bomb in the top of the sixth to stake Brunner and the Flyers to a 5-0 lead. It was Doring third homer of the season, his third in the past five games. And for good measure, the JC transfer from Grafton, Wisconsin is now hitting .353 through the team’s first eight games.
It was a veritable hitting bonanza for Dayton, shut out on Saturday on just five hits. Four players, Nick Weybrightm, Adam Huesman, Matt Poland, and Nick Gobert each collected two hits apiece on the way to a team total of 13. It also marked the second game in the 3-game weekend series when they collected hits in double digits. In Friday’s opener they had 14in a 10-9 loss.
“Good to get a win,” said Vittorio, speaking of his team’s modest breakthrough.
Nick Gobert was one of four Flyers to collect two hits in Sunday’s win at High Point.
“It’s always good to travel back home with a win. And when the effort is true and honest you have a chance to win games.” I think our effort from the start of the season has been ‘true’ by everyone, but not honest by all. We’ve got to hold ourselves accountable to sticking with our team processes…and it has to be an honest effort. That’s what we talked about going into Sunday’s game. And overall, everyone in the lineup was accountable.”
‘Honestly’, they far from out of the woods. A team that struggled offensively a year ago, through Sunday the Flyers are still hitting at a .225 clip, compared to .323 by the opposition.
Pitching-wise, Brunner’s Sunday gem marked the second outstanding starting performance of the weekend (Charlie Dant went seven in a losing effort in the opener, his second quality start in as many weekends). Yet, the Flyers have a team earned run average of 7.12 and have surrendered 98 hits in 73.1 innings of work, including 13 home runs.
“I think our effort from the start of the season has been ‘true’ by everyone, but not honest by all,” added Vittorio on Sunday. “We’ve got to hold ourselves accountable to sticking with our team processes…and it has to be an honest effort. That’s what we talked about going into today’s game. And overall, everyone in the lineup was accountable.”
They have a chance to build on their breakthrough in short. The Flyers host the Miami Redhawks Tuesday afternoon at Time Warner Field at 3 pm. As they say, plenty of good seats are still available; and hopefully, more base hits, as well.
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Third baseman Robbie Doring stroked a two-run homer in the fifth, and has three round-trippers now in his last five games. (Press Pros File Photos)