DAVENPORT, Fla. - The Ohio Dominican Panthers (5-8) baseball team used a late ninth-inning rally to complete a top 25 upset in a grand way against the NCBWA (National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association) #18 ranked Minnesota State Mankato Mavericks (9-1) on Sunday (March 9). 

CJ Dean's second grand slam of the season lifted the Panthers to an 8-6 win over the Mavericks at NERP Field 4 in Florida. This was the first Panthers upset of a top 25 team since March 20, 2022 when ODU upset #6 Trevecca Nazarene. 

The Panthers opened the scoring with two runs in the second inning. Two singles by Dean and Noah Schacht along with a hit by pitch from Drew Emerson loaded the bases with no outs. Matthew Bame plated Emerson with a sacrifice fly to right field. After a steal of third base by Dean, Mason Kurtz grounded out for the second run as Dean crossed the plate. 

Three straight hits for ODU in the third inning pushed the lead to 3-0. Jacob Adams singled and scored on a RBI double by Gianni Passarelli, followed by a single from Emerson. 

A three-run fourth inning for the Mavericks tied the game as the middle innings were tied up in the sunshine. Following the seventh inning stretch, the Panthers regained the lead briefly. The bottom of the seventh started with a Peter Jelenic walk before a RBI double from Adams made it 4-3. 

Minnesota State re-tied the game in the eighth and added two more runs in the top of the ninth for a 6-4 lead. The Panthers had a chance in the bottom of the ninth to complete the upset bid. 

Adams doubled to center field as the leadoff batter in the ninth - capping his four-hit game with his second double. Passarelli was hit by a pitch before coming out for a pinch runner - Jonah Hane. Emerson was bunting to move the runners over and reached on an error by the Mavericks pitcher. After a pitching change, Dean ended the game with a blast over the left field fence. 

With ODU accounting for ten hits, Adams had the second 4-hit game this year for the Panthers. Dean and Passarelli each had two hits while Adams, Emerson and Dean scored a pair of runs each.

Steven Chapman pitched into the eighth inning as the starter. Chapman allowed four runs (three earned) on eight runs with one walk. The right-hander fanned six batters in the game. Jared Hoersten allowed two runs in two thirds of an inning before Jeremy Ramirez closed the ninth with two strikeouts, earning the win. 

Ohio Dominican continues the Florida trip with a contest against Bloomfield (NJ) on Monday (March 10) at 9:00 AM.