A-10 baseball: Dayton falls to Fordham, will face elimination game Friday night

Rams score runs in each of last three innings

The Dayton Flyers lost 4-2 to Fordham in the third round of the Atlantic 10 Conference baseball tournament Friday and will have to win three straight games to claim the title at Fordham’s Houlihan Park in Bronx, N.Y.

» RELATED: ‘Future is bright’ for Dayton baseball

Nick LaBella led the Rams with three RBIs. Each team had six hits. The Flyers left six men on base. R.J. Wagner started for the Flyers and allowed two earned runs on two hits in six innings. He struck out eight.

No. 3 seed Dayton (31-25-1) will play No. 2 seed Davidson or No. 5 seed Richmond at 7 p.m. Friday in an elimination game. If the Flyers win that game, they will play No. 4 seed Fordham (37-22) again at noon Saturday and will have to win that game and beat Fordham again in a second game Saturday afternoon to win the championship. Fordham is 3-1 against Dayton this season.

Fordham took a 1-0 lead in the second inning on an RBI double by LaBella.

Dayton took a 2-1 lead in the sixth when Connor Wilson reached on a fielder’s choice groundout to shortstop and Riley Tirotta and Jay Curtis scored on a throwing error by the shortstop.

» RELATED: Dayton seeks first title since 2012

Fordham tied the game at 2-2 on a sacrifice bunt in the seventh by LaBella and took the lead on an RBI double by Jason Coules in the eighth. The Rams added an insurance run in the ninth on an RBI single by LaBella.

Dayton went 2-0 on the first two days of the tournament, beating No. 6 seed Rhode Island 3-2 on Wednesday and No. 2 seed Davidson 7-3 on Thursday.

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