Tiffin University baseball (10-8, 2-0 G-MAC) opened conference play with two big wins against Ohio Dominican on Friday at the Paradiso Athletic Complex behind explosive bats as the Dragons posted identical victories of 11-8 in both games.
High winds made the ball fly out of the park today and Tiffin posted 11 runs and 12 hits in both games.
Game 1
The story of the first game appeared to be ODU's Gianni Passarelli. He put the Panthers on top 2-0 in the first and later gave his team a 7-1 lead following a grand slam in the fifth.
The Dragons, who erased a six-run deficit in their last game, did it again this afternoon. In their last game, TU came up short and took the loss but not today.
Both pitchers settled down after the first inning until the fifth inning when the teams combined for eight runs. Adam Deitschel put the Dragons on the board in the first inning with a leadoff home run and the game remained 2-1 until the fifth.
That's when Passarelli provided a big blow as he lifted a fly ball to left field in the gusty winds to give his squad a 7-1 lead with a two-out grand slam. The Dragons got three big runs back in the bottom of the fifth, scoring all three with two outs that was aided by an ODU error. Brayden Clark had a two-run single and Griff Cady added an RBI double.
The Dragons entered their half of the eighth trailing 7-5 and Julian Hernandez started the rally as a pinch hitter and drew a walk. Overall, Tiffin sent 11 batters to the plate in the inning. Cady tied the game with an RBI single and Hilario DeLaPaz followed with a two-run single to give the Dragons a 9-7 lead. Adam Grabowski stepped to the plate after DeLaPaz and launched a two-run homer over the left field wall to make it 11-7.
Luke Westerman and Hernandez both had infield singles with two outs but the inning ended with a soft ground out by Deitschel.
Nick Feasel walked the leadoff man in the ninth and was then replaced by Trent Hedges. The Panthers loaded the bases in the ninth and drew a bases loaded walk to make it 11-8. Mason Brunecz replaced Hedges on the mound and recorded the final out of the game.
Feasel (1-0) got his first win of the year and allowed one run on one hit with one strikeout and walked five. Brunecz recorded his first save of the year by recording the final out. Scotty Adelman got the start and allowed seven runs on seven hits with four walks and three strikeouts. Brandon Swope pitched a scoreless sixth inning.
Andrew Fairbrother, Clark, Cady, Grabowski, and DeLaPaz all had two RBI in the game.
Game 2
This was a wild one offensively as well as the teams combined to score 15 runs through the first three innings.
Cady got things rolling for the Dragons with a two-out, two-run double in the first inning. The Panthers hit back-to-back home runs in the second to tie the game at two and later in the inning took a 4-2 lead. Tiffin then erupted for five runs in the second to take the lead back. Deitschel drew a walk to load the bases and Ty Hatfield followed with an RBI single and then Fairbrother was plunked to tie the game at four. Grabowski, with two outs, added a big two-run single to give Tiffin a 7-4 lead going into the third inning.
The lead was short-lived as the Panthers added four runs in the third on two, two-run home runs to take the lead back. Following a scoreless third, Grabowski came through with a two-run single in the fourth to give Tiffin the lead back 9-8.
The Dragons added two more runs in the fifth. The inning started with a little league home run by Jack Clancy. He tripled and then scored on a throwing error by the ODU shortstop as the ball went out of play. Later in the inning, Hatfield crushed a home run to center field. Zeroes were put on the board in the final 1.5 innings.
Zach Johnson (2-2) picked up the win by shutting the Panthers out for the final 4.2 innings. He allowed just one hit with seven strikeouts but did walk four. Johnathon Ray got the start and went 2.1 innings, allowing eight runs on seven hits with two walks and four strikeouts.
Hatfield went 3-for-4 with 2 RBI and Grabowski was 2-for-3 with 4 RBI.
