COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio Dominican's baseball team never found its rhythm Saturday as the Panthers suffered a pair of defeats to visiting Tiffin, 5-0 and 10-2, in the two teams GLIAC openers at Frank Damian Field at Panther Valley.

With the setbacks, ODU fell to 8-7 (0-2), while the Dragons improved to 7-8 (2-0).

The Panthers managed just 10 hits and committed seven errors in the two games, while Tiffin tallied 26 hits and no errors.

In the first game, Tiffin jumped to a 2-0 lead in the first, stringing together four consecutive hits with two outs. The Dragons struck again with two outs in the second, taking advantage of a Panther error to tally two unearned runs, and another ODU miscue in the field led to Tiffin's fifth run.

The Panthers, who were held hitless in the first three innings, had their best opportunity to score in the fifth after sophomore Anthony Raschilla (Girard, Ohio) doubled to deep right-center to start the inning. However, he was stranded there as the next three Panthers were retired.

Junior Alex Borgan (Pickerington, Ohio) started and took the loss after allowing all five runs (two earned) in five-plus innings of work. He yielded 10 hits and struck out three in 101 pitches. Tiffin's Eric Klepper threw a complete-game two-hitter, striking out five.

Tiffin again jumped to a 2-0 lead in the first inning in the second game, then broke it open with a six-run third, sending 11 hitters to the plate. The Panthers scored a run in the fourth on a fielder's choice grounder by freshman Matt Jurevicius (Broadview Heights, Ohio) and scored again in the sixth on an RBI single by freshman John Simindinger (Lima, Ohio).

Sophomore Sean Blackburn (Wadsworth, Ohio) was tagged with the loss, working 2.1 innings and allowing six runs (five earned).

Ohio Dominican and Tiffin conclude their four-game series with a doubleheader at noon Sunday in Columbus.

Contact: Scott Miles
miless@ohiodominican.edu