Box Score AUBURNDALE, Fla. – Minnesota Duluth scored two runs in the bottom of the eighth inning and Ohio Dominican's baseball team couldn't answer in the ninth as the Panthers fell 5-3 on Tuesday morning.
ODU brought the tying run to the plate in the ninth but could not score as the Panthers fell to 5-2 on the season.
Freshman Colin Kaucher (Toledo, Ohio) and senior Colman Fitzgerald (Centerville, Ohio) each had two hits and freshman Mitchell Bault (Maineville, Ohio) allowed one earned run in his first collegiate start.
The Panthers jumped to a 2-0 lead as Kaucher doubled with one out and later came in to score on a wild pitch. Fitzgerald followed with an RBI basehit to right field that brought home junior Tony Evans (Medway, Ohio).
The Bulldogs took a 3-2 lead with a single run in the second and two more in the third, and ODU came back to tie the game in the fifth on a two-out RBI basehit by sophomore Lee Sponseller (Mason, Ohio).
ODU would strand two runners on base in each of the next two innings, though, and UMD (3-4) put up the go-ahead runs in the eighth.
Bault worked 5.2 innings and allowed seven hits and one earned run. He struck out five without walking a batter and threw 54 of his 84 pitches for strikes.
Ohio Dominican returns to action at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday with a non-conference game against Grand Valley.
Contact: Scott Miles
miless@ohiodominican.edu
