COLUMBUS, Ohio – Held in check for two and a half games, Ohio Dominican's offense finally broke through against Grand Valley State's pitching staff with a seven-run seventh inning on Sunday, lifting the Panthers to a 9-2 win over the Lakers in GLIAC action.

With the win, ODU improved to 12-16 (8-6 GLIAC), while the Lakers fell to 16-11 (10-4 GLIAC).

Knotted 2-2 in the seventh, the Panthers sent 10 batters to the plate against three Grand Valley pitchers, matching a season-high for runs in an inning with those seven tallies.

Junior Jossue Delgado (Barinas, Venezuela) started the frame with a solid double to left-center and went to third as sophomore Kyle Tisdale (Uniontown, Ohio) singled through the left side of the infield. A walk to freshman Collin Parcher (Napoleon, Ohio) loaded the bases, and junior Christian Prince (Hudsonville, Mich.) lifted a fly ball to right field that was just deep enough to right to score Delgado, whose headfirst dive beat the throw to the plate by an eyelash.

After a popout, the Panther lineup unloaded with two down. Junior Anthony Raschilla (Girard, Ohio) singled through the hole on the left side to score Tisdale, and sophomore Vince Bartolone (Broadview Heights, Ohio) lined a single into left-center that scored Parcher and made it 5-2.

ODU wasn't done yet, though, with sophomore Marcus Schluessler (Zanesville, Ohio) slapping a single back up the middle for an RBI and senior Ryan Rovnak (Poland, Ohio) drilling a two-run double into the gap to give the Panthers an 8-2 advantage. Delgado then pounded his second double of the inning, this time going to right-center, to score Rovnak and cap the rally.

The Panthers finished with 13 hits after scoring just four runs on nine hits in yesterday's doubleheader against Grand Valley. Delgado went 3-for-5, Bartolone also had three hits and Raschilla had a pair of base hits as well.

ODU received a nice start from senior Nick Venditti (Brecksville, Ohio), working on three days' rest. He held Grand Valley to four hits and two runs in five innings while striking out three. Sophomore Cole Carpenter (Zanesville, Ohio) picked up the win with two innings of one-hit relief, while Bartolone also allowed just one hit in two innings of work as well.

Grand Valley scored a run in the second inning as two hits sandwiched around a wild pitch put them on the board, but ODU came back with a tally of its own in the third. Delgado reached on a throwing error, and on a hit-and-run scored easily as Parcher smashed a double to the wall in right-center.

The Lakers came back with a tally of their own in the fourth on a solo home run, but Venditti and the Panthers escaped more damage as Delgado made a circus catch in left-center – avoiding a collision with left fielder Bryan Rudolph (Pickerington, Ohio) – that resulted in a double play on an appeal at second base.

ODU would tie the score at 2-2 in the sixth on a fielder's choice grounder by Schluessler, scoring freshman Jacob Horsley (Thornville, Ohio), who had singled to start the inning.

Ohio Dominican hits the road for five straight GLIAC contests, starting with a doubleheader at Malone at 1 p.m. Wednesday.

Contact: Scott Miles
miless@ohiodominican.edu