COLUMBUS, Ohio – Down by two runs in the seventh inning of game one, Ohio Dominican's baseball team rallied back for a 4-3 victory in eight innings against Wayne State Saturday in GLIAC play. The Warriors would recover and take a 7-3 win in game two.

Still, the Panthers (22-16, 12-11 GLIAC) took two of three games from Wayne State (27-11, 15-7 GLIAC), who had been in second place in the GLIAC standings and receiving votes in the national poll.

Trailing 3-1 in the seventh, junior Kyle Tisdale (Uniontown, Ohio) started the rally with a one-out single up the middle. After a fly out, senior Phil Jaskot (Upper Arlington, Ohio) lined a single to right field to put two aboard, and sophomore Jacob Horsley (Thornville, Ohio) hit a ball into the gap in right-center, past a diving Chris Gebara, scoring both Tisdale and Jaskot.

In the eighth, senior Sean Blackburn (Wadsworth, Ohio) allowed a single and a sacrifice bunt before giving way to junior Vince Bartolone (Broadview Heights, Ohio). Bartolone got a groundout and a fly out to right to end the Warrior threat.

Batting in the bottom half, senior Jossue Delgado (Barinas, Venezuela) singled to right with two outs, then stole second. After an intentional walk to senior Anthony Raschilla (Girard, Ohio), Tisdale drilled a 3-1 fastball to left field for a basehit, with Delgado scoring easily from second.

The Panthers fell behind 3-0 through four innings, managing just three base runners in that stretch, before picking up a run on a double play grounder in the fifth.

Blackburn was strong in his 7.1 innings of work, allowing just five hits and the three runs. He did not earn a decision, but struck out three and issued just one walk. He has walked just nine batters in 43.0 innings pitched this spring.

Bartolone, meanwhile, improved to 4-0 out of the bullpen with the victory.

Tisdale went 3-for-4, while senior Bryan Rudolph (Pickerington, Ohio) and Jaskot each had a pair of hits.

The Panthers again found themselves in a 3-0 hole in game two, but could not rally back despite having their opportunities.

ODU cut it to 3-2 in the third, with freshman Jimmy Gravett (Grove City, Ohio) hitting an infield single that trickled away from the Warrior middle infield, allowing classmate Kyle Burson (Brunswick, Ohio) to score from second base. Later in the inning, Raschilla drew a walk, and ball four turned into a wild pitch to the backstop, allowing sophomore Dylan West (Westerville, Ohio) to race home from third.

But the Panthers would leave two runners on board that inning after also stranding two in the second. Wayne State would hit a two-run homer in the fourth, then tack on two more runs in the seventh to pull away with the win.

Burson and West each reached base twice to lead the Panther offense, while junior Austin Monnin (Napoleon, Ohio) pitched three innings of two-hit shutout relief.

Ohio Dominican remains at home to take on Walsh in a Wednesday doubleheader, beginning at 2 p.m. Wednesday from Panther Valley.

Contact: Scott Miles
miless@ohiodominican.edu