WINTER HAVEN, Fla. – Ohio Dominican's baseball team jumped out to a pair of early leads and held on in each to record a doubleheader sweep of Minnesota Duluth, 4-2 and 11-7, Thursday in the Russ Matt Central Florida Invitational.

The Panthers have now won five straight games and improved their record to 8-4 this spring. The Bulldogs fell to 0-3 on the spring.

ODU jumped to a 2-0 lead in the first inning of the opener, with senior Anthony Raschilla (Girard, Ohio) ripping an RBI double and classmate Bryan Rudolph (Pickerington, Ohio) following with a sacrifice fly.

The lead extended to 3-0 in the third as senior Jossue Delgado (Barinas, Venezuela) reached on a bunt single, stole second and scored on Raschilla's base knock.

ODU tacked on another run in the fourth as junior Phil Jaskot (Upper Arlington, Ohio) doubled home classmate Kyle Tisdale (Uniontown, Ohio) with two outs.

The Bulldogs scored twice in the seventh, but junior Vince Bartolone (Broadview Heights, Ohio) came on and recorded the final out to seal the win.

Sophomore Austin Bueter (Wauseon, Ohio) punched out seven in five scoreless innings to pick up the victory. He allowed just two hits in improving to 2-1 on the spring.

The Panthers finished with nine hits, with Delgado, Raschilla and Jaskot each tallying a pair.

After falling behind 1-0 in the first inning of game two, ODU erupted for six runs in the third to take control of the game.

Freshmen Jimmy Gravett (Grove City, Ohio) and Tony Evans (Medway, Ohio) and junior Marcus Schluessler (Zanesville, Ohio) each singled to load the bases with nobody out, and Delgado drew a walk to tie the game. Raschilla followed with a sacrifice fly, and Rudolph later hit a two-run double to make it 4-1.

Tisdale followed with an RBI groundout, and a Bulldog error in center field allowed Rudolph to score with two outs and give the Panthers the five run lead.

But ODU wasn't done. Schluessler tripled to start the sixth, and scored on Evans' basehit. Sophomore Collin Parcher (Napoleon, Ohio) hit a two-run single to make it 9-1, and Rudolph's RBI double and an RBI single by sophomore Jacob Horsley (Thornville, Ohio) extended the lead to 11-1.

Duluth answered with six runs in the bottom of the inning to draw within 11-7 and put two runners on board in the seventh, but it wasn't enough to complete the comeback.

Junior Daniel Mooney (Wauconda, Ill.) made his first start of the season and went five innings, punching out five and allowing just one unearned run on three hits.

ODU finished with 13 hits, three off the bat of Evans, while Rudolph had two hits and drove in three.

Ohio Dominican returns to action at 10 a.m. Friday for the first of two games in a doubleheader against Wayne State (Neb.).

Contact: Scott Miles
miless@ohiodominican.edu