Dayton rallied from a 6-1 deficit in the sixth inning, and capitalized on five errors to beat Richmond 10-6 Friday in the opener of an Atlantic 10 series at Time Warner Cable Stadium in Dayton. Bryan Conway homered and drove in three for the Spiders.
Richmond, which entered the series as the A-10’s third-best fielding team, tied a season-high with five miscues, including two in the decisive eighth inning, which opened the floodgates five unearned runs in the game.
The loss dropped the Spiders to 18-14-2 overall and 5-2 in A-10 play, while the Flyers improved to 19-16, 5-2.
Thanks to Barber’s fourth inning solo shot and Conway coming through with a solo homer in the fifth inning and a two-run single in the sixth, Richmond built a 6-1 lead on Dayton starter Cameron Hobson.
But Dayton began chipping away by scoring twice in the bottom of the sixth and twice more in the seventh to pull within 6-5.
Junior reliever Alex Maffett got a called strikeout to start the eighth, but with a steady rain continuing to fall, Dayton began its rally as Josh Johnson reached on dropped third strike that rolled to the backstop.
Back-to-back infield singles and the first of two errors that inning allowed Dayton to take its first lead of the game. C.J. Gillman’s RBI single made it 8-6 and a two-RBI double from Mike Coughlin added insurance.
Maffett was tagged the tough-luck loss (2-3), allowing just a hit a fanning two in his inning of work, but was charged with four runs (two earned). Tim Bury fired the final two scoreless innings for Dayton to get the win (2-2).
Conway, Barber and Ruzbarsky each had two hits for the Spiders, who lost for just the second time this season when holding a lead through seven innings (14-2).
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