WINTER HAVEN, Fla. – Ohio Dominican's baseball team suffered two more narrow defeats at the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational, dropping both ends of a doubleheader (2-1, 2-0) to Wheeling Jesuit on Monday.

The Panthers have now lost four of their last five games by two runs or less, including three one-run decisions.

ODU received strong pitching efforts from sophomores Alberto Canales (West Park, Fla.) and Daniel Mooney (Wauconda, Ill.) in the setbacks. In the opener, Canales tossed seven innings, allowing just five hits and one run while striking out two. Meanwhile, Mooney also worked seven innings, limiting the Cardinals to seven hits while striking out a career-high 11 in the defeat.

The Panther offense managed just 10 hits in the two contests, though, as ODU fell to 2-6 on the season. Wheeling Jesuit improved to 2-2.

The Panthers scored their lone run of the day in the first inning of the opener, as sophomore Marcus Schluessler (Zanesville, Ohio) tripled and came in to score on a groundout by senior Ryan Rovnak (Poland, Ohio).

Canales cruised through the first six innings, as just one Cardinal reached second base in that stretch. He induced a pair of double plays and sophomore Kyle Tisdale (Uniontown, Ohio) gunned down a would-be basestealer in the fifth as well.

A leadoff walk and wild pitch in the seventh helped WJU rally, though, as the Cardinals would tie it on a double later in the bottom of the frame. Canales protected the tie, retiring the final two hitters on a popout and a flyout.

ODU threatened in the eighth, loading the bases with one out, but could not come through with the go-ahead hit, and a Panther error would lead to the game-winning run in the bottom of the frame.

In game two, the Panthers came up with just three hits. ODU loaded the bases in the third with one out, but again failed to score. Another opportunity arose in the fifth as sophomore Vince Bartolone (Broadview Heights, Ohio) singled and later advanced to third, but he was stranded there.

WJU scored single runs in the first and fourth innings to account for their tallies in the contest.

Mooney's 11 punchouts are the most by a Panther pitcher since Nick Venditti also fanned 11 on April 28, 2012 against Hillsdale.

Freshman Collin Parcher (Napoleon, Ohio) had three hits in the two games and has now hit in seven straight games. Tisdale saw his seven-game hitting streak snapped in game two.

Ohio Dominican returns to action with a 2 p.m. contest against Lewis on Tuesday.

Contact: Scott Miles
miless@ohiodominican.edu