TIFFIN, Ohio – Ohio Dominican's baseball team closed its first weekend of GLIAC play with another split against Tiffin, taking game one 6-5 before dropping a 7-2 decision in the second game Sunday at Heminger Field.

The Panthers are now 5-9 (2-2 GLIAC), while Tiffin is 5-13 (2-2).

In the opener, the Panthers struck early to a big lead but had to hold off a late Dragon surge to secure the win. ODU scored three runs in the first, with the big blow coming via a Felix Brown (Philipsburg, St. Maarten) two-run double that scored junior Evan Shaw (Delaware, Ohio) and sophomore Nick DiNello (Boardman, Ohio). Later, Brown scored on a fielding error to push the Panther lead to 3-0.

ODU tacked on another run in the second, as senior JT Feldkamp (Lorain, Ohio) delivered with two outs, singling up the middle to bring in sophomore Andrew Powelson (Tallmadge, Ohio) and make it a 4-0 lead. But Tiffin came right back with three runs in the bottom half of the inning, two of which were unearned, to cut the advantage to 4-3.

The score remained 4-3 until the top of the fifth, when Shaw singled through the right side to score junior Bobby Franks (Portage, Mich.), and DiNello pulled off a squeeze play to score senior Germaine McAlpine (Canton, Ohio) to push the ODU advantage to 6-3.

Tiffin, though, took advantage of another Panther error in the bottom of the sixth to score a pair of unearned runs and make it a 6-5 ballgame. ODU failed to tack on an insurance run in the seventh, but freshman Sean Blackburn (Wadsworth, Ohio) closed the door on the Dragons. An error and a walk let two runners on board with just one down, but Blackburn induced a fly out and struck out the final hitter to seal the victory.

For Blackburn, it was his first career complete game, and he moved to 2-1 on the season while allowing just three hits and one earned run. He struck out four and threw 97 pitches to lower his ERA to 2.05 on the season.

The Panthers tallied nine hits in the first game, led by two from Feldkamp, while Brown went 1-for-2 with two RBI and two walks. ODU also survived committing four errors in the contest, though the team would not be able to bounce back from its four errors in the second game.

Tiffin scored the first five runs of the game, including two tallies in the first and three in the fourth. All three runs in the fourth came via a pair of two-out errors by the Panthers to put the Dragons on top 5-0.

After only picking up one hit in the first four innings, ODU cracked the scoring column in the fifth with a bases loaded walk from McAlpine, but couldn't keep the momentum going as DiNello lined out to third to close the inning. Tiffin tacked on a run in its half of the frame to make it 6-1, though ODU answered with another tally after Brown tripled and scored on a ground out. But the Dragons scored once more to make it 7-2 through six innings and ODU could not rally.

The Panthers were limited to just four hits in the second game, with one apiece from Brown, Feldkamp, Franks and junior Austin Grate (Fort Wayne, Ind.).

Senior Zane Miller (London, Ohio) started and suffered the loss, working five innings and allowing six runs, though just two were earned. He struck out five without walking a batter.

ODU returns to action for its home opener at 1 p.m. Wednesday with a doubleheader against GLIAC foe Findlay at Panther Valley.

Contact: Scott Miles
miless@ohiodominican.edu