COLUMBUS, Ohio – After being victimized by a pair of slow starts yesterday, Ohio Dominican's baseball team jumped out to early leads in both games against Tiffin Sunday and held on in both to notch its first two GLIAC victories, 5-4 and 9-5, at Frank Damian Field.

With the sweep, ODU improved to 10-7 on the campaign and 2-2 in the conference, while Tiffin fell to 7-10 (2-2 GLIAC).

The Dragons took the first two games of the four-game series on Saturday by jumping to 2-0 first inning leads in both contests, but today it was the Panthers who jumped out early, claiming a 2-0 lead in the first inning of game one.

Senior Evan Shaw (Delaware, Ohio) singled, stole second and came in to score on a sacrifice fly to start the scoring, and sophomore Anthony Raschilla (Girard, Ohio) drove in redshirt-sophomore Christian Prince (Hudsonville, Mich.) with a double to deep center to make it 2-0.

Freshman Cole Carpenter (Zanesville, Ohio), who got out of trouble in the first inning with a nifty 5-4-3 double play, gave up a run in the second on a triple and a one-out single, but kept the Dragons off the scoreboard with a 1-2-3 third. ODU responded with a tally of its own in the bottom half as Raschilla delivered another RBI hit, plating freshman Chase Westphal (Brecksville, Ohio) to make it 3-1.

A Panther error in the fourth frame allowed the Dragons to cut the score to 3-2, but ODU's offense answered again, scoring a pair of runs in the bottom half. Senior Austin Grate (Fort Wayne, Ind.) walked and went to second on a sac bunt, than scored as senior Tyler Zaidel (Cincinnati, Ohio) hit a ball down the right field line that just stayed fair for an RBI double. Westphal followed with an RBI double of his own to the gap in right center to score Zaidel and put ODU on top 5-2.

Carpenter kept Tiffin off the board in the fifth, but with two outs and none on in the sixth, allowed consecutive hits to score a run and hit a batter as well. Freshman Vince Bartolone (Broadview Heights, Ohio) relieved and ended the frame with a groundout to second to keep ODU in front 5-3.

Senior Erik Lamka (Troy, Ohio) came in to start the seventh and allowed two seeing eye hits through the infield to start. A groundout brought home one run, but Lamka shut the door with two strikeouts to notch his third save of the spring.

Raschilla and Zaidel both had two hits for ODU in the opener, while Carpenter earned his first collegiate victory, holding Tiffin to just two earned runs in 5.2 innings of work. He allowed seven hits and walked just one in 82 pitches.

Another hot start propelled the Panthers in game two, who raced to a 5-0 lead in the first inning. Nine hitters stepped into the box for the Panthers, as Bartolone ripped a one-out triple to straightaway center and came in to score on a basehit by freshman Tyler Watkins (Belpre, Ohio) to start the surge. Prince doubled down the right field line and Watkins – who moved to third on the play – scored on a wild pitch.

Senior John Bowron (Dayton, Ohio) laced a double over the center fielder's head to bring in another run, Grate had a sacrifice fly to score Raschilla, and freshman Austin Butler (Pickerington, Ohio) closed the hit parade with a single up the middle to bring home Bowron and make it 5-0.

Starting pitcher Nick Venditti (Brecksville, Ohio) retired the first eight hitters and allowed just two hits through the first four innings as ODU extended its lead to 6-0 on a fourth-inning Bartolone RBI single, bringing in Shaw, who stole second and third earlier in the frame.

The Dragons finally got to Venditti in the fifth with three hits, scoring a single run, but the Panther offense answered again. Two walks and a single loaded the bases with none out, and Butler singled through the left side of the infield to score Bowron. Later, Shaw sent a basehit between first and second to score Butler and put ODU in front 8-1.

Both teams scored a run in the sixth, with Raschilla knocking in junior Ryan Rovnak (Poland, Ohio) on a single to center, and after Tiffin scored three times in the seventh, Bartolone closed it with a fielder's choice grounder, a fly out and another ground out.

The Panthers rapped out 14 hits in the second game, with Bowron leading the charge with a 3-for-4 effort at the dish, scoring twice. Bartolone, Watkins and Butler each went 2-for-4, and Butler knocked in two runs.

Venditti picked up his second win of the campaign, needing just 69 pitches to toss his six innings. He allowed seven hits, did not walk a batter and struck out two.

Ohio Dominican embarks on an 11-game roadtrip, starting with a 2 p.m. doubleheader at Findlay on Wednesday.

Contact: Scott Miles
miless@ohiodominican.edu