By Sports Information Graduate Assistant Aaron McPherson

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio Dominican's baseball team used 14 runs in the first four innings to power its way to a 15-11 win over Urbana on Saturday afternoon at Panther Valley.

The Panthers are 4-0 to start the season, marking the first time an ODU baseball team has begun a season with four-straight wins since 2008.

Ohio Dominican recorded 16 hits on the afternoon, including a 5-for-5 outing by junior Justin Childers (Pickerington, Ohio), who is now 11-for-15 on the season with an overall batting average of .783.

Senior Tony Evans (Medway, Ohio) finished 2-for-3, sophomore Colin Kaucher (Toledo, Ohio) went 2-for-4 while junior Max Banke (Oakwood, Ohio) and senior Kyle Burson (Brunswick, Ohio) each finished 2-for-4 for the Panthers.

Sophomore pitcher Garret Sendelbach (Tiffin, Ohio) earned his first win of the year for ODU, going five innings on the hill.

The Panthers jumped out to an early 4-0 lead through the first inning. Evans led off the inning with a triple to center field, then an RBI single by Childers started the scoring for the Panthers, who took an early 1-0 lead.

Kaucher doubled to right field in the next at bat, scoring junior Lee Sponseller (Mason, Ohio) to increase ODU's advantage to 2-0.

The Panthers added two more runs in the bottom of the first inning to take a 4-0 lead through one and built their lead going forward. Leading 9-1 in the bottom of the fourth, Banke singled to score junior Jake Collinsworth (Cincinnati, Ohio) and increase the Ohio Dominican lead to 10-1. Then with the bases loaded, senior Tony Evans (Medway, Ohio) earned a walk that scored freshman Jonathan Conkle (Massillon, Ohio) to give ODU an 11-1 lead. A sacrifice fly by Sponseller would score Banke and increase the advantage to 12-1, then a double by Childers in the next at bat scored Evans and Burson, giving the Panthers their largest lead of the day, 14-1.

Urbana would add seven runs in the next three innings to cut ODU's lead to 14-8, but Childers would score from second following a wild pitch and an error in the bottom of the seventh to push the Panther lead to 15-8. The Blue Knights added three more runs in the top of the eighth to cut the deficit to 15-11, but junior pitcher Joe Filosa (Fort Wayne, Indiana) closed the contest in the ninth, striking out two batters and ending the contest with a popup to first base for a 15-11 win for the Panthers.

ODU will look to make it five wins in a row when it faces Mercyhurst on Monday at 2 p.m. at Panther Valley.

Contact: Scott Miles
miless@ohiodominican.edu