WINTER HAVEN, Fla. – After recording a 4-3 walkoff win over St. Xavier in the opener, Ohio Dominican's baseball team followed with a commanding 9-0 win the nightcap to complete the sweep of the Cougars Saturday at the Russ Matt Central Florida Invitational.

The Panthers improved to 3-0 in the early season with the two wins, while SXU dropped to 0-4.

ODU jumped to a 3-0 lead in the opener, then needed to rally in the bottom of the seventh to pull off the win.

Junior Colman Fitzgerald (Centerville, Ohio) had an RBI single and senior Kyle Tisdale (Uniontown, Ohio) an RBI grounder in the first inning to stake ODU to a 2-0 lead, and Tisdale laced a double to right that scored Fitzgerald in the third inning to make it 3-0.

The Cougars scored single tallies in the fourth and fifth innings, then tacked on an unearned run in the sixth to knot the game at 3-3.

ODU wasted no time in the bottom of the seventh, though. Freshman Jacob Tisevich (North Canton, Ohio) walked to start the inning, and sophomore Tony Evans (Medway, Ohio) reached on a bunt single that moved Tisevich into scoring position.

Fitzgerald then worked the count to 2-0 before lining a single to center field, bringing home Tisevich for the winning run.

The Panthers rapped out 11 hits, including a perfect 4-for-4 performance by Fitzgerald with two RBI. Tisdale also had the two RBI and Tisevich scored two runs.

Senior Ryan Bidwell (Syracuse, N.Y.) was solid in his five innings of work, allowing five hits and two runs. He struck out five and walked two.

Freshman Tyler Magley (Baltimore, Ohio) picked up the win with his two innings of two hit relief. He punched out three hitters without walking one.

In the second game, the Panthers again raced out to an early lead, scoring four times in the second inning.

Sophomore Kyle Burson (Brunswick, Ohio) started the scoring with an RBI single, and with two outs, Evans ripped a double to right field that brought home two.

Fitzgerald then capped the inning with an RBI basehit to extend the lead to 4-0.

That was more than enough run support for junior Ryan Colegate (Centerville, Ohio), who worked six innings of three-hit shutout baseball. He punched out nine hitters, matching a career high that he set as a freshman in 2013 against Findlay.

ODU tacked on another run in the sixth as freshman Justin Childers (Pickerington, Ohio) tripled to center to start the inning, then came in on a sacrifice fly by senior Ronn Bidwell (Syracuse, N.Y.). The Panthers put the game away with four tallies in the seventh, as junior Jacob Horsley (Thornville, Ohio) had an RBI double and Ronn Bidwell smacked a two-run single to cap the scoring.

Ohio Dominican is back in action with a 10 a.m. game Sunday against Minnesota State.

Contact: Scott Miles
miless@ohiodominican.edu