Box Score AUBURNDALE, Fla. – Noah Bland (Oberlin, Ohio) made his first collegiate hit one to remember as the freshman hit a walkoff single in the ninth to lift Ohio Dominican's baseball team to an 11-10 win over Wayne State (Neb.) on Sunday evening.
Bland, who had just one at bat in ODU's first four games, entered the game as a pinch hitter and stepped to the plate with senior Jacob Horsley (Thornville, Ohio) on second base with two outs. Bland fouled off the first two pitches, took a ball, then hit a single to center field that brought home Horsley.
In a game that took nearly three and a half hours to compete, the Panthers (4-1) finished with 16 hits and overcame a five-run deficit.
Horsley and senior Colman Fitzgerald (Centerville, Ohio) each finished with three hits and three RBIs, sophomore Lee Sponseller (Mason, Ohio) socked his first homer of the season, and sophomore Matt Meihls (Fort Wayne, Ind.) struck out six batters in 4.2 innings to keep ODU in the game.
The Panthers fell behind by scores of 4-0 and 6-1 before coming to life in the middle innings. Four straight singles by Sponseller, Fitzgerald, sophomore Justin Childers (Pickerington, Ohio) and Horsley brought ODU to within 6-4 in the fourth frame, and senior Ian Huss (Springboro, Ohio) hit an RBI double to right field to make it a 6-5 game.
WSC (3-6) tacked on a run in the fifth, but the Panthers drew even as Sponseller launched a solo home run to right field and Childers scored on an RBI double off the bat of Horsley.
The Wildcats regained a two-run lead with a pair of runs in the sixth, but again ODU had an answer. With two outs and the bases loaded, Fitzgerald doubled to left field, clearing the bags and giving the Panthers their first lead of the game at 10-9.
Wayne State then tied the game at 10 in the seventh and the Panthers left the bases loaded in the eighth before winning it in the ninth.
Meihls set career highs in innings pitched and strikeouts as he allowed five hits and three earned runs in relief. Sophomore Jeff Paul (St. Henry, Ohio) worked out of trouble in the ninth as he entered with two runners on and one out, but ended the inning with a strikeout and fly out. He was credited with his first career victory.
Sponseller finished 2-for-3 with three runs scored and juniors Tony Evans (Medway, Ohio) and Kyle Burson (Brunswick, Ohio) each tallied a pair of hits.
ODU and Wayne State will play again Monday at 11 a.m. in Auburndale.
Contact: Scott Miles
miless@ohiodominican.edu
