Baseball pulls north to Canal Park for series with Malone

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Great Midwest play continues this weekend for Ohio Dominican baseball with a four-game set against Malone.

THE FUNDAMENTAL

The Ohio Dominican and Malone will participate in a four-game series on Friday and Saturday, April 9 and 10.
Both dates have a scheduled 13.00 start.
The series will follow the traditional G-MAC schedule of 9-7-7-9 inning games.
All four games are scheduled to be played at Canal Park in Akron, Ohio, home of Akron RubberDucks, Double-A-affiliated Cleveland Indians.
More information about tickets is available here.

LAST TIME

The Panthers come from our first home series this spring and take three of four games against Cedarville last weekend.
As a result, ODU improved to 13-5 overall and 5-5 in the Great Midwest.
The Five Panthers posted a league average of over .350 against the Yellow Jackets, when ODU hit .339 as a team.
Sophomore Burning Hunt (Ashland, Ohio) ledet, batting. 615 (8-13) with five goals scored.
Sophomore Alex Brill (Amherst, Ohio) beat two home runs and graduate senior Jace Komminsk (Westerville, Ohio) added a long ball, with all three bombs that came in the final victory 17-14 series.
On the mound, first-year student Scott wakes up (Hinckley, Ohio) opened the series with a one-hit shutout win, while the second year Grayson Hamilton (Lebanon, Ohio) and educated senior Leire davies (Massillon, Ohio) picked victories too.

ROUSE NAMED G-MAC PITCHER OF THE UKE

Scott wakes up threw his second full game of the season and his first nine-inning game in a 6-0 win over Cedarville last weekend.
Only two runners-up reached Rouse, a single in the third and a trip in the top of the ninth.
Rouse knocked out a season-high eight hits in the show and had a stretch of 18 consecutive retired hits.
During the season, Rouse leads ODU with 33.1 rounds beaten.
The newcomer ranks among the top five at the conference with a 2.70 ERA and has team-high 32 strikes.
Rouse enters the Malone series with a 3-1 record.

EXPLOSIVE POWER

ODU is among the top teams in several offensive statistical categories in G-MAC this season.
The Panthers beat .296 as a team and the squad’s .434 OBP leads the conference and is in the top 20 in Division II.
ODU’s 8.1 races per game are only number two for Kentucky Wesleyan in the G-MAC, while Black & Gold also ranks among the top five at the conference in doubles, triples and home races.
The Panthers’ success on offense can also be attributed to the base running effort, where they have a G-MAC high of 66 stolen bases.
ODU has the second most steals in NCAA Division II and ranks third in the country in stolen bases per game, 3.67.
Four panthers have double-digit steals, led by juniors Thomas Staab (Bellville, Ohio), who is 20-for-23 in swipes, and ties him to the national lead in Division II.

LEADER ON THE PLATE

Sophomore David Silva (Tontogany, Ohio) has been the most consistent bat for ODU this spring, leading the team with an average of .400.
Silva has eight multi-hit matches this season, and will participate this weekend in a five-hit stretch.
The player has run in 19 races and scored 16 times, while adding seven hits outside the base (6 2B, 1 HR).
Silva is number two at the conference with a .544 OBP.
Jace Komminsk and Thomas Staab beats .340 and .339, respectively.
Komminsk has shown power with seven doubles and three homers, and runs in a team-high 22 races.
To go along with his stolen base total, Staab is one of three Panther players with 20 plus points. The leadoff hitter also has a couple of triples this spring.

HAMILTON CONTINUES STRONG START

Grayson Hamilton joins Rouse with a team-best 3-1 record this spring.
Fresh from a solidly shortened first-year campaign in 2020, Hamilton leads ODU and G-MAC with a 1.57 ERA.
Hamilton threw five innings last weekend against Cedarville, hitting two hits and no runs while hitting four.

ABOUT MALONE

Malone has started 9-14 in 2021, including a 4-12 conference post.
The Pioneers play at their third home which comes this spring this weekend and are 1-7 when they host.
Malone comes from a four-game series at Tiffin last weekend, and goes 1-3.
Longtime NAIA rivals and now G-MAC rivals, ODU and Malone, have met 120 times, with the Pioneers leading the all-time series 68-52.
Since joining NCAA Division II in 2010-11, ODU is 9-13 against Malone.
The last meeting came in the G-MAC tournament in 2019, a 9-5 victory for the Panthers.
ODU dates back to the 2018 season, and has won three of the last four matches played against Malone.

Consult: Tyler nar

jestert@ohiodominican.edu