COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio Dominican's baseball team was victimized by a trio of big innings as No. 24 Ashland swept a Monday doubleheader at Panther Valley by scores of 8-2 and 17-5.

ODU had a 2-0 lead and was carrying a no-hitter into the seventh of game one, but the Eagles rallied with eight runs to come away with the win.

In game two, Ashland scored five runs in the first inning, but ODU came back to draw within 6-4 in the fifth. Ashland broke it open with 11 runs in the sixth inning, though.

With the losses, ODU fell to 10-10 (2-6 GLIAC), while the Eagles improved to 17-7 (6-2 GLIAC).

Junior Ryan Colegate (Centerville, Ohio) issued just one walk in the first six innings of game one, and allowed just two balls hit out of the infield – a flyout out to left and one to right. He needed just 48 pitches to get through the first six frames without allowing a hit, but Ashland tallied four runs off of him in the seventh and added four more later in the inning to grab the win.

Senior Marcus Schluessler (Zanesville, Ohio) homered and also had a double in the game, while classmate Kyle Tisdale (Uniontown, Ohio) also had two hits in the contest. Junior Colman Fitzgerald (Centerville, Ohio) had an RBI single as well.

In game two, ODU fell behind 6-0 through four and a half innings before scoring twice in the fourth and twice in the fifth to draw within 6-4.

Freshman Lee Sponseller (Mason, Ohio) had a two-run homer to account for the first two runs, and Kyle Burson (Brunswick, Ohio) had an RBI single in the fifth that wound up plating two after an Ashland error in right field.

But the Eagles sent 16 batters to the plate in the sixth inning and finished with 18 total hits in the contest in taking the win.

ODU had 14 hits itself, including a 4-for-5 effort from Burson and a 3-for-4 performance by freshman Justin Childers (Pickerington, Ohio).

Ohio Dominican takes on Malone at 1 p.m. Thursday in a GLIAC doubleheader.

Contact: Scott Miles
miless@ohiodominican.edu