COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio Dominican baseball team split a non-conference doubleheader in Canton, Ohio on Sunday afternoon with former AMC foe Walsh University. The Panthers snuck away with a 7-6 victory in game one, but failed to complete the sweep in the nightcap suffering a 9-5 loss in extra innings.
Ohio Dominican racked up a total of 15 hits in the opener, but couldn't pull away from a resilient Cavalier team that took advantage of some timely hitting to keep the game within reach. The Cavs took an early lead as they plated a run on ODU starter Andy Onak (Sr./Orland Park, IL) in the first inning. The Panthers ace would settle in over the next two innings as the offense added a run in the second and three in the third.
The Panthers would run into some trouble in the fourth inning as they committed four errors that led to four runs and surrendered the lead back to the home Cavaliers. ODU would take back the lead after runs in the fifth and sixth, but another unearned run by Walsh in the bottom half of the inning knotted the game at six.
ODU wouldn't let the game slip away as John Lydic (Jr./Gahanna, OH; pictured) recorded his fourth hit of the game, a lead-off double, to start the seventh. Following a Tyler Zaidel (So./ Liberty Twp., OH ) sacrifice bunt, Lydic moved into scoring position for Germaine McAlpine (Jr./Canton, OH) who came through with a clutch single.
Kyle Gore (Jr./Solon, OH) earned the victory after coming on in relief of Onak in the sixth inning. Gore tossed a perfect seventh to improve his record to 1-2 on the year.
In game two, the Panthers took a 5-1 lead into the third inning, but couldn't seem to find a way to push any more runs across the plate. ODU stranded a total of eight runners in the nightcap and 17 on the day. Walsh would take advantage of the Panthers misfortune as they added four runs over the next four innings to tie it up and send the game into extra innings.
ODU threatened in their half of the eighth, but the Cavaliers 3were able to get out of the jam. Alex Borgan (Fr./Pickerington, OH), the Panthers starter in game two, wasn't as lucky as he gave up a lead-off triple to start the eighth. After back-to-back intentional walks the Panthers got a force at home for the first out of the inning. One batter later they weren't as lucky as Tim Hromada blasted a walk-off grand slam to beat the Panthers 9-5.
Borgan suffered the loss as he went 7.1 innings allowing nine runs on 11 hits and struck out four. Leading the way for the Panthers at the plate was shortstop Felix Brown ( Philipsburg, St. Maarten ) who went 4-for-4 with two runs scored and a RBI.
The Panthers will return to action on Tuesday, April 20th as they return to Frank Damian Field in Panther Valley for a non-conference showdown with former AMC rival Mount Vernon Nazarene University. Game time between the Panthers and Cougars is set for 1 p.m.
