MIDLAND, Mich. – Sophomore Sean Blackburn (Wadsworth, Ohio) and senior Erik Lamka (Troy, Ohio) combined on a three-hitter as Ohio Dominican's baseball team recorded a 1-0 win over Northwood in the second game of Sunday's GLIAC doubleheader. The Timberwolves rallied late to win game one, 10-8.

Despite the split today, ODU took three of four games of the road series and improved to 15-8 on the season and 7-3 in the GLIAC, which is good for a second-place tie in the conference. Northwood is now 12-7 (3-5 GLIAC).

After the offensive fireworks in the opener, Blackburn (3-2) slowed the Timberwolves' bats in the nightcap, tossing 6.1 shutout innings. He yielded one single in the second inning and one in the fourth, but no damage, despite walking six batters.  Blackburn threw 94 pitches in the win.

Lamka came on in the seventh after Blackburn issued a one-out walk. He was greeted by a single to put runners on second and third, but converted his fifth save of the spring with a fielder's choice grounder and a fly out.

The Panthers scored the game's lone run in the top of the fourth inning. With one out and runners on the corners, redshirt junior Zack Dascenzo (Uniontown, Pa.) picked up an RBI on a fielder's choice grounder as sophomore Anthony Raschilla (Girard, Ohio) raced in to score from third.

In the bottom half, Northwood had a runner cut down at the plate as senior right fielder John Bowron (Dayton, Ohio) and Raschilla's relay to the plate resulted in an out. Northwood put a runner on third with two outs in the fifth, but Blackburn ended the inning with a punch out, and the right hander induced a double play in the sixth to also stop another potential scoring threat.

Freshman Chase Westphal (Brecksville, Ohio) went had three of ODU's seven hits in the game, while senior Evan Shaw (Delaware, Ohio) also went 2-for-4 at the dish.

In the first game, Ohio Dominican rallied from a 4-0 deficit to go in front 8-7, but three unearned runs in the fifth proved to be the Panthers' undoing in the 10-8 loss.

After Northwood scored four times in the first, ODU benefited from four straight walks to start the second inning in scoring two runs. Bowron picked up an RBI with his bases loaded walk, and Dascenzo's liner to left was deep enough to score Raschilla and make it 4-2.

The Timberwolves came back with two more runs to go in front 6-2, but ODU erupted with a five-run third inning to go on top 7-6. Redshirt sophomore Christian Prince (Hudsonville, Mich.) had an RBI double, and with two down, Bowron delivered a two-run single to right field. Later, John Simindinger (Lima, Ohio) also had a two-run basehit to give ODU the lead.

Northwood answered with a run of its own to knot it at seven in the third, and after a scoreless fourth frame, Bowron led off the fifth with a triple and came in to score on Dascenzo's single.

However, an ODU throwing error in the bottom half put the Timberwolves in a position to score three times, and the Panthers would manage just one baserunner in the final two frames.

Shaw, Bowron and Simindinger each had two basehits, while Raschilla drew three walks and scored twice to lead the Panther offense.

Shaw extended his hitting streak to nine straight games and in ODU's six games this week, batted .524 (11-of-21) with five runs scored. As a team, the Panthers batted .369 in winning five of six games (seven of eight overall.)

The Panthers play their final non-conference game of the season at 4 p.m. Tuesday at Shawnee State.

Contact: Scott Miles
miless@ohiodominican.edu