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COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio Dominican baseball team is set to begin its 2021 season this weekend against Findlay and Notre Dame (Ohio).

SETTING THE SCENE

• Ohio Dominican will begin the new season with four games in Mason, Ohio, at Prasco Park, the site of the 2021 Great Midwest Athletic Conference Tournament.
• ODU and GMAC-rival Findlay are set to square off in a non-conference game at 2 p.m., Friday, Feb. 26. The Panthers and Oilers will then play again at 1:30 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 27.
• ODU will also face Notre Dame in a pair of games, the first at 4:30 p.m., Saturday. The two sides will close out a busy weekend for the Panthers at noon, Sunday, Feb. 28.
• Findlay and Notre Dame will also face each other at 10:30 a.m., Saturday.
• All five games played at Prasco Park will have live stats and video available in the links above.

THE ANTONIDES ERA

• Head coach Christopher Antonides is entering his fifth season at the helm for the Panthers.
• In his first four years as head coach, Antonides has guided ODU to a 95-75 overall record, a .559 winning percentage.
• Prior to the shortened 2020 season, ODU had produced back-to-back 30-win seasons, highlighted by a NCAA Midwest Regional Tournament Runner-Up finish in 2018.

FRESH FACES

• Ohio Dominican will have one of the younger rosters in the G-MAC this spring, with 28 of 39 players listed as a freshman or sophomore.
• ODU also brings in a bevy of transfer student-athletes for the 2021 campaign.
• Despite the majority of the roster labeled as underclassmen, the Panthers do have the luxury of returning four graduate seniors.

NOW BATTING…

• Graduate senior Roger Danison (Carroll, Ohio) is back for his second stint with ODU. Danison came to Columbus in 2020 after spending four years at NCAA Division I Xavier. As a Panther, the outfielder started all 13 games, batting .277 with nine RBI and seven runs scored. He posted three multi-hit appearances, including a 2-for-4 game against Grand Valley State, where he also drove in four runs.
• Junior Thomas Staab (Bellville, Ohio) will look to return to his 2019 form, which saw the then freshman bat .315 with 45 runs and 26 RBI. As a freshman, Staab also stole 19 bases, which ranked fourth in the G-MAC. His 2020 season was highlighted by a 2-for-4 performance against Cal (Pa.) on March 8.
• A trio of sophomores in Brennen Hunt (Ashland, Ohio), Derek Kutrubs (Brunswick, Ohio) and David Silva (Tontogany, Ohio) will look to improve off a shortened first season with ODU last spring. Hunt, who started all 13 games at second base, led the group with a .244 average.
• Behind the plate, graduate senior Jace Komminsk (Westerville, Ohio) will look to provide experience and leadership. Komminsk appeared in 9-of-13 games last spring, including six starts at catcher. For his career, Komminsk has a .276 average with 21 extra-base hits, including 14 doubles and five home runs. He has driven in 30 runs and scored 43 times.

ON THE MOUND

• Sophomore Grayson Hamilton (Lebanon, Ohio) will look to lead the pitching staff again this spring, just as he did in limited action in 2020. Hamilton tossed a team-high 15.2 innings over three starts. The right-hander registered a 3.45 ERA and was among the conference leaders in strikeouts per nine innings, 12.06.
• Graduates Clay Davies (Massillon, Ohio) and Danny Matic (Highland Heights, Ohio) provide experience on the pitching staff. Davies made three starts last season, going 1-1. Davies was also one of just five players in the G-MAC to throw a complete game last season, recording a win against Lock Haven on March 7. Davies and Matic have made a combined 34 appearances for the Black & Gold on the mound.

A LOOK AT THE OPPONENTS

• Findlay is coming off a 5-7 record in 2020, and in its last full season in 2019, posted a 15-28 overall mark. The Oilers last G-MAC campaign saw the team go 9-21.
• ODU and Findlay have met 25 times in the Panthers' Division II era (2011-present), with the Panthers holding an 18-7 edge in the series. ODU and UF though will be meeting for the first time since a three-game series in May 2018, which ODU went 2-1.
• Notre Dame was 3-8 before the remainder of its 2020 slate was cancelled. In 2019, NDC went 28-27, marking the program's first winning season since 2016. The Falcons also made it to the Mountain East Conference Tournament championship game in 2019.
• Since 2011, ODU has won all three meetings against NDC. The two sides last met in a neutral-site doubleheader in Florida in 2017, where the Panthers won both games, 11-2 and 4-0.

Contact: Tyler Jester

jestert@ohiodominican.edu