Box Score XENIA, Ohio – A seventh inning grand slam off the bat of junior Colman Fitzgerald (Centerville, Ohio) lifted Ohio Dominican's baseball team to a thrilling a 12-11 victory over Northwood in its opening game at the GLIAC baseball tournament.
Fitzgerald's blast helped ODU bounce back from a 9-6 deficit and capped a five-run inning. ODU tacked on another run in the eighth inning, then held on as the Timberwolves scored a run in both the eighth and ninth frames.
The Panthers, the tournament's No. 4 seed, won their 10th straight game and move on to face No. 2 seed Grand Valley at 5:30 p.m. Friday. Grand Valley scored a walkoff 7-6 win in the tournament's first game against Malone.
ODU pounded out 14 hits and survived a one-hour lightning delay, along with a 17 hit performance, from Northwood.
The Panthers plated five runs in the second inning via four straight singles and a walk. Senior Kyle Tisdale (Uniontown, Ohio) and freshman Justin Childers (Pickerington, Ohio) each singled with one out, and Fitzgerald lined a basehit to right to score Tisdale. Junior Jacob Horsley (Thornville, Ohio) followed with a line drive single to center to score Childers, and sophomore Kyle Burson (Brunswick, Ohio) walked to load the bases.
Freshman Jacob Tisevich (North Canton, Ohio) reached on a fielder's choice grounder that brought in Fitzgerald, and sophomore Tony Evans (Medway, Ohio) capped the inning by lining a single to left-center that scored Horsley and Tisevich to put the Panthers on top 5-1.
Northwood scored twice with two outs in the third, including an unearned run, to cut it to 5-3. ODU, though, countered in the fourth as Tisevich drilled a triple to the wall in center, then scored on a single by senior Kyle Suminski (Fraser, Mich.) to give the Panthers a three-run cushion.
The lightning delay then struck in the fourth inning, forcing ODU to remove GLIAC Pitcher of the Year Ryan Colegate (Centerville, Ohio), and Northwood scored five runs with two outs in the inning to grab an 8-6 lead.
After the Timberwolves tacked on another run in the sixth, the Panthers responded in the seventh. ODU loaded the bases with one out, and Childers singled to right field to make it 9-7.
That brought Fitzgerald to the plate, who was hitless in five at bats with the bases loaded this spring. He drilled a 2-2 pitch over the wall in left for the grand slam, staking the Panthers to an 11-9 lead.
Childers' RBI grounder in the eighth made it 12-9, and Northwood scored a run on a double and an error in the eighth and a solo homer in the ninth. Senior Vince Bartolone (Broadview Heights, Ohio) set down the final three batters of the ninth to pick up his ninth save of the year.
The win went to Tyler Magley (Baltimore, Ohio), who fanned five and allowed one run in three innings of relief.
Horsley went 3-for-5, while Fitzgerald finished with a career-best five RBI to go along with two hits. Sponseller and Childers also tallied two hits for ODU while Suminski had a hit and two walks.
Contact: Scott Miles
miless@ohiodominican.edu
