COLUMBUS, Ohio - The Ohio Dominican Panthers (17-21, 12-12 G-MAC) baseball team welcomed in the G-MAC North Division leading Walsh Cavaliers (21-17, 15-9 G-MAC) for the final home series at Frank Damian Field at Panther Valley for the 2026 season. 

For the first time this season in six G-MAC series, the Panthers were unable to muster a series split as Walsh took three of four games. Walsh won Friday's (April 17) doubleheader as they held off ODU rallies in the 10-9 and 7-5 wins. Ohio Dominican kicked off Senior Day on Sunday (April 19) with a come-from-behind 17-15 win before falling 15-2 in the final game of the series. 

Game 1 (Friday - L, 10-9)

• Walsh led 1-0 in their first at-bat with a run scoring before ODU came to the plate. ODU answered in the bottom half of the inning with three runs scoring. Gavin Lawler tied the game on the third pitch of the day with a solo home run to left field. After a ground out, Steven Chapman walked, Braden Reed singled and Sam Battles was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Will Marrero singled home two runs with a knock through the left side, bringing home Chapman and Reed for a 3-1 lead. 
• The Cavaliers scored once in the second inning and gained the 6-3 lead with four runs in the fourth inning. 
• Marrero struck again in the bottom of the fourth with a solo shot of his own to left field, cutting the lead to 6-4.
• Two Walsh runs in the top of the fifth inning were answered by a solo home run by Grant Horne with two outs in the fifth. Walsh led 8-5 as the game headed to the sixth inning. 
• A solo home run for Walsh in the sixth pushed the lead to 10-6 until ODU scored in the bottom of the eighth inning. Chapman delivered the fourth solo shot of the day for the Panthers in the eighth as he led off with a blast to left field.  
• Walsh added one run in the top of the ninth, leading 10-6 as ODU has one last crack in the bottom half. Garrett Roach lined a pinch-hit double to right center field to kick off the frame. Jack Wells followed with a pinch-hit RBI double of his own, scoring Roach. Lawler singled, putting runners on the corners with no outs. Horne plated Wells with a sacrifice fly and all of a sudden, ODU trailed 10-8 with the tying run at the plate. One batter later, Noah Schacht had a pinch-hit single as an error scored Lawler and moved Schacht into scoring position. Battles walked with two outs as the tying run was on base. Carson Willis lined out to center field as Walsh escaped game one with a 10-9 win. 
• The Panthers outhit the Cavaliers 13-12 with Reed leading with a three-for-four day. Lawler, Chapman and Marrero each had two hits with Chapman and Lawler scoring twice 
• Jaxson Stried (L, 0-4) started and took the loss with four runs allowed in three innings. Joey Helms followed with four runs given up in 1.2 innings. Eric Geddes and Brody Mann combined for two runs allowed in 3.1 innings and Jeremy Ramirez pitched a scoreless ninth inning with two strikeouts. 

Game 2 (Friday - L, 7-5 in 7 innings)

• A grand slam in the top of the first inning gave Walsh a 4-0 lead. The Panthers cut the lead in half in the next half inning with a pair of runs. After a two-out single by Chapman, Reed doubled him home and Schacht followed it up with a RBI single. 
• Walsh added three runs in the fifth inning, making the lead 7-2 where it stood until the seventh inning. 
• Like in game one, the Panthers tried to rally in their last at-bat. Will Schirmer and Horne singled while Chapman was hit by a pitch to load the bases with one out. Reed drilled a two-run single to right center field as the Panthers trailed 7-4. Schacht scored a third run with a sacrifice fly as ODU got the tying run to the plate once again. Walsh ended the game with a ground out and won 7-5. 
• For the second straight game, the Panthers had more hits than the Cavaliers, 10-8. Chapman, Reed, Schacht and Schirmer combined for eight hits with two hits each. With three and two RBI respectively, Reed and Schacht drove in all of the Panther runs. 
• Landon Ringhiser (L, 4-3) was the starter and allowed seven runs in four innings, fanning five batters. Jack Knight, Jared Hoersten and Andrew Mouch shutout the Cavs over three innings. 

Game 3 (Sunday - W, 17-15 in 7 innings)

• A lot of runs scored in Sunday's first game with a number of big innings on both sides. 
• Walsh and ODU both scored in the first inning as the game was knotted 1-1. A solo home run for the Cavaliers was matched by a bases loaded RBI single by Reed after two singles and a hit batter. 
• Two Walsh blasts in the top of the third inning made it 6-1 but just like the first inning, ODU answered with a few runs with the bases loaded. A single, hit batter and a walk juiced the bags with no outs, allowing the Panthers to rally. Marrero and Mason Kurtz had RBI singles while Mason Hess plated a run with a sacrifice fly putting ODU down 6-4. 
• Four runs scored for the Cavaliers for a 10-4 lead. The biggest inning of the season for the Panthers flipped the momentum to the home team. 14 batters came to the plate as nine runs scored and put ODU ahead 13-10 after four innings. Schacht delivered a two-run home run to right field with Reed having two RBI singles in the frame. Lawler and Chapman each had two-run singles with a balk bringing home the ninth run. 
• In the fifth, Walsh briefly tied the game with three runs across but the Panthers had an answer again. Back-to-back Walsh errors scored one run for the Panthers and then Lawler hit a moonshot to left field - a three-run blast as ODU led 17-13. 
• Walsh scored single runs in the sixth and seventh but ODU was able to close the door with a wild 17-15 win. 
• For the third time in the series, ODU had the most hits on the scoreboard - 19 to 17. Every Panther starter scored at least one run and had a hit. Lawler was one of three ODU players with three hits as he was three-for-six with three runs scored and five RBI. Chapman and Reed had three hits as well with four runs combined and five RBI. Horne, Marrero, Kurtz and Schirmer all had two hits. 
• Chapman started Senior Day with a seven-run outing in 3.1 innings, striking out six. Geddes and Willis combined for six runs given up in one inning. Knight (W, 2-0) got the win with one unearned run in 1.2 innings as Andrew Holcomb (Sv, 6) allowed one run in the seventh inning with two punchouts. 

Game 4 (Sunday - L, 15-2 in 7 innings)

• With five runs in the second and two in the third, Walsh jumped out to a 7-0 lead before the Panthers cracked the scoring column. 
• In the third inning, Ohio Dominican scored with a RBI single by Schirmer after an error and a walk. 
• After two runs in the fourth and one in the sixth inning, the Cavaliers led 10-1. 
• Chapman drilled a solo shot to left center field in the sixth inning. 
• Another five run inning - this time in the seventh allowed Walsh to win 15-2 in seven innings to win the series. 
• Chapman had two of the five hits for ODU. Battles had a triple on Senior Day.
• Bryson Shumate (L, 1-1) allowed five runs in 1.1 innings of work. Hoersten, Helms and Chris Bartholomew gave up at least one run in their outings, combining for ten runs and six strikeouts in 5.2 innings.

Ohio Dominican will take on the Kentucky Wesleyan Panthers next weekend in a battle of teams battling for second place in the G-MAC South Division.