HILLSDALE, Mich. – Ohio Dominican's baseball team officially qualified for the G-MAC Tournament after taking two games at Hillsdale on Saturday, winning the opener 1-0 and taking game two 19-2.

ODU currently sits in a tie for second place in the conference standings with a 20-10 mark (27-21 overall) and will conclude its series with Hillsdale with a noon doubleheader on Sunday.

Senior Robbie Jobe (Grove City, Ohio) hit his first career home run in the opener, and that wound up being the lone run of the game as senior Mitchell Bault (Maineville, Ohio) and sophomore Tim Zeller (Mount Vernon, Ohio) combined to throw a three-hit shutout.

Bault, the reigning G-MAC Pitcher of the Week, twirled 7.0 scoreless innings, allowing just two hits while fanning five. He needed just 88 pitches and threw 59 of them for strikes. Both hits were singles, and no runner reached third base against him in improving to 6-5 on the spring.

Zeller, meanwhile, earned his sixth save, striking out two over the final two frames.

Jobe's homer led off the seventh inning and sailed over the wall in left. He'd had 50 at bats in his career prior to that plate appearance without hitting a roundtripper.

In game two, the Panthers wasted no time in jumping in front of Hillsdale, as junior Joey Machuga (Canfield, Ohio) hit a grand slam in the first inning before the Panthers put it away with a seven-run second frame.

Senior Colin Kaucher (Toledo, Ohio), freshman Michael Lang (Cincinnati, Ohio) and senior Noah Bland (Oberlin, Ohio) each had two-run basehits in that second inning, and senior Chris Sackett (Loveland, Ohio) was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.

The Panthers bumped the lead to 16-0 in the fourth, including a two-run basehit by senior Genesis Hillard (Cincinnati, Ohio), and tacked on three more runs later, highlighted by an RBI single from senior Derek Thobe (Coldwater, Ohio) in his first collegiate at bat.

The Panthers racked up 21 hits in game two, with Kaucher and Lang each tallying four. Freshman Manny Vorhees (Wapakoneta, Ohio) finished 3-for-3, and senior Bret Yutzy (Plain City, Ohio), Bland, and freshman Thomas Staab (Bellville, Ohio) each had a pair of hits.

Senior Garret Sendelbach (Tiffin, Ohio) picked up the win, yielding just one hit in 4.0 innings and striking out two in moving to 6-5 on the spring. Freshman Billy Criblez (Mantua, Ohio) earned the save after working the final 3.0 innings.

Contact: Scott Miles
miless@ohiodominican.edu