LAKE MYRTLE, Fla. – Ohio Dominican's baseball team let a 5-1 lead slip away in a 7-5 loss to Winona State, then suffered an 8-2 setback to Saint Joseph's in its second game Monday at the Russ Matt Central Florida Invitational.

The Panthers rapped out 14 hits in the opener, but struck out 13 times and left 10 runners on base in the setback to WSU.

Freshman Justin Childers (Pickerington, Ohio) finished with three hits, and junior Colman Fitzgerald (Centerville, Ohio), senior Kyle Tisdale (Uniontown, Ohio), freshman Lee Sponseller (Mason, Ohio) and freshman Jake Collinsworth (Cincinnati, Ohio) each notched two hits.

Tisdale, Sponseller and senior Ronn Bidwell (Syracuse, N.Y.) each had RBI singles in the first inning to give the Panthers a 3-1 lead, and Fitzgerald had a two run single in the second inning to give ODU a four run cushion.

WSU answered with three runs in the fourth and took the lead with two more runs in the fifth.

After the Warriors tacked on another run to make it 7-5 in the seventh, the Panthers threatened in the eighth but left two runners on board. ODU brought the tying run to the plate in the ninth but also could not score.

In the loss to the Pumas, ODU was outhit 8-3, and the Panthers again struck out 13 times.

Bidwell smacked a two-run double in the second that scored Childers and Tisdale to give ODU a 2-1 lead, but SJC would score twice in the bottom of the inning, then four more times in the fourth to take a 7-2 advantage en route to the 8-2 run victory.

Ohio Dominican returns to the diamond at noon Tuesday against Wayne State (Neb.).

Contact: Scott Miles
miless@ohiodominican.edu