FINAL SCORE
Game One
Monmouth 5 (1-0)
Dayton 2 (0-1)
 
Game Two
Monmouth 13 (2-0)
Dayton 3 (0-2)

CARY, N.C. – A pair of strong starts from Austin Beard and Tommy Kent and some timely hitting lifted the Monmouth University baseball team to an Opening Day doubleheader sweep of the University of Dayton on Friday.
 
Chris Walsh had two hits, and two runs scored in game-one's 5-2 victory for the Hawks. Shane Dux, Wyatt Hunt and Andrew Schmid combined for seven RBIs and seven runs scored in the game-two 13-3 win for Monmouth. 

Game One Recap: Dayton took the early lead in game-one with a pair of runs in the bottom of the first. The first four batters reached for the Flyers leading to the tallies.
 
Beard settled in after that, retiring nine straight Dayton batters at one point. 
 
During that stretch, the Hawks used a four-run third inning to give the junior the lead. Highlighting that inning was Walsh's lead-off triple that saw him score on a Dayton error on the play. 
 
Jay Bant tacked on a run for the Hawks in the top of the seventh with a sac fly that scored Walsh and made it 5-2. 
 
Derek Benzinger got a key double play in the bottom of the seventh that helped the Hawks close out the 5-2 win.
 
Game Two Recap: Monmouth opened up an 8-0 lead after four innings in game-two and cruised to the 13-3 victory. 
 
After plating two in the second, the Hawks sent nine batters to the plate in the third and scored five times for a 7-0 lead. Hunt had a two-run single in the frame and came around to score on Schmid's double.
 
Dux's infield single in the fourth scored Nick Lovarco and made it 8-0 in favor of the Hawks. 
 
After Dayton tallied its first two runs of the contest in the top of the seventh, Monmouth responded with three more in the bottom half of that frame. The Hawks loaded the bases with no outs and Casey Caufield delivered a single up the middle that scored two. Chris Andrews added a sac fly in the frame. 
 
Each team struck again in the eighth as the final score of game-two was 13-3. 

NOTES
Game One Notes
- Monmouth and Dayton were the first NCAA Division I game on Opening Day, thanks to Friday's 9:30 am start time. 
- Monmouth got a win in its first all-time meeting with Dayton. 
- It was the Hawks' first Opening Day win since 2022 against Penn State. 
- Austin Beard made his Monmouth debut in the opener.  

Game Two Notes
- Monmouth moves to 3-0 since the start of 2024 when it plays a doubleheader (Towson, Delaware, Dayton). 
- Nick Lovarco, Shane Dux, Ryan Mealy and Jake Danyluk all made their Monmouth debuts in game two.  
- Tommy Kent made his first start on the mound since the 2023 season and just the second of his career. 

NUMBERS CRUNCH
Game One Numbers
- The Hawks scored five unanswered runs after allowing Dayton the first two tallies of the game.
- Derek Benzinger matched his career-high in innings pitched at Monmouth as he went the final three.
- Benzinger's save was his sixth of his Monmouth career. He moves into the top 12 in school history for saves with his performance against Dayton.  
 
Game Two Numbers
- Tommy Kent's six innings pitched were the longest outing of his career. 
- Kent's four strikeouts were one shy of his career-high set in 2023 against FDU.
- Four Hawks had multiple RBI games while five Hawks scored at least two runs in the game. 
- Nick Lovarco and Shane Dux each recorded their first two hits at Monmouth in the contest.
- The Hawks had a season-high four stolen bases in the contest. 
 
NEXT UP
Monmouth plays a doubleheader with Michigan State on Saturday, Feb. 15 starting at 9:30 a.m.