It had been a rough week for the GW baseball team, which dropped two mid-week nonconference games and then the first two games of a series at Dayton, but junior Eric Cantrell came up with a 16-strikeout complete game win Sunday to send the Colonials back to the District with a 7-2 victory over the Flyers.

GW (17-14, 7-2 Atlantic 10) had not lost a conference game before falling 11-4 Friday in the opening game of this weekend’s series thanks in large part to a trio of three-run outbursts by Dayton’s offense. The Flyers’ bats stayed hot the next afternoon, powering them to a 16-1 win and handing Colonials starter Joe Richardson his first defeat of the season.

Cantrell finally quieted Dayton’s hitters Sunday, not only striking out 16 of them but also walking none. The junior starter, whose ERA is now down to a team-best 2.87, gave up six hits in the 7-2 win.

Senior Tom Zebroski stayed hot at the plate with seven hits in 14 at-bats during the series, moving his batting average up to .438 on the year, while also driving in three runs. Sophomore Stephen Oswald drove in four runs over the weekend, three of them coming in Friday’s series opener. Redshirt senior Chris Luick had two hits in each of the games. Junior Brendon Kelliher went 3-for-4 Friday while senior Chris Holland did the same Sunday.

The Colonials will host two nonconference games at Barcroft Park in Arlington, Va. this week, playing Towson at 3 p.m. Tuesday and Georgetown at 3 p.m. Wednesday. A-10 play resumes next weekend with a series at Richmond beginning Friday.