Box Score (COLUMBUS, Ohio) – Walsh survived a high-scoring affair to come from behind and take an 11-10 decision over Ohio Dominican to win the series between the two schools on Saturday. The final game between the Cavaliers (23-20, 14-9, 11-6) and Panthers (18-26-1, 5-22, 3-16) has been postponed until Sunday because of rain.
Both teams' offenses exploded early with five runs across the first two frames. Johnny Knight IV gave Walsh the lead in top of the third as he doubled to left center to score Andrew Stalnaker. ODU answered with five runs over the next two frames to take a 10-6 lead headed to the sixth.
That's when the Maroon and Gold rallied for a pair of runs before they scored three in the seventh to take the lead. The rally started as Eric Conner scored on a balk before Luke Caple singled through the left side to score James Thomas from third.
The momentum continued into the seventh as Thomas singled through the left side to score Austin Szink. Jason McPeek tied the game as he hit one up the middle to score Brook Clark before Tyson Lautanen equaled the effort with a hit up the middle to score Thomas.
Joey Beals picked up his second win of the season in relief work to improve to 2-0. Kyle Ward took over with one out in the seventh to pick up his first save of the season.
All nine starters that hit recorded at least one hit with the top four of McPeek, Lautanen, Luke Caple, and Stalnaker recording multiple hit days. If you include Thomas who hit in the nine-spot, five consecutive hitters had multiple hit days as Thomas went 3-for-4 with two RBI and three runs scored.
The Cavaliers also overtook Malone for second place in the division with three games in hand. Walsh is tied with Wayne State of the North Division for fourth place in the conference.
The top two teams in each division qualify for the GLIAC Tournament based on divisional record. The final two teams of the six-team field qualify based on overall conference record.
Walsh will make up the three games in hand against Ohio Dominican on Sunday and a doubleheader at Lake Erie on Wednesday.
