The Dayton Flyers defeated the Richmond Spiders 3-0 Saturday afternoon, winning the 2012 Atlantic 10 Baseball Championship. The Flyers recieve the automatic bid to the NCAA Baseball Championship Tournament.
Dayton got a full game of shutout pitching from two men, starter Parker Shrage and reliever Burny Mitchem, who was named Championship MVP. Schrage pitched 6.1 innings, giving up no runs on seven hits. Mitchem pitched hitless 2.2 innings for the save. Alex Maffett took the loss for the Spiders.
Dayton's offense came on an RBI single by centerfielder Bobby Glove in the first, an RBI groundout by shortstop Brian Blasik in the third, and a double-steal in the seventh that saw second baseman Jared Broughton steal home.
Richmond lost to Dayton earlier in the tournament but reached the final in the consolation bracket. Unfortuately for them, they were unable to do any better with their second chance than they did with their first. Number one seed Saint Louis has to be disappointed with their tournament, going 1-2 and coming just short of the championship game.
The full results of the tournament were:
Game 1: #5 Richmond 9, #4 Massachusetts 4
Game 2: #6 Saint Joseph's 3, #3 Rhode Island 0
Game 3: #3 Rhode Island 6, #4 Massachusetts 5
Game 4: #5 Richmond 6, #1 Saint Louis 0
Game 5: #2 Dayton 4, #6 Saint Joeseph's 3
Game 6: #6 Saint Joseph's 3, #3 Rhode Island 2
Game 7: #2 Dayton 9, #5 Richmond 5
Game 8: #1 Saint Louis 6, #6 Saint Joseph's 0
Game 9: #5 Richmond 3, #1 Saint Louis 2
Game 10: #2 Dayton 3, #5 Richmond 0
The win is Dayton's first championship for the baseball program, and it will be their first appearance in the NCAA Regionals.
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