Northwest Wayne News

Wayne State University's baseball team is set to resume play after a two-week hiatus, facing Ohio Dominican in a neutral four-game series. The games will take place on Monday and Tuesday at Wright State University's Nischwitz Stadium in Dayton, Ohio. Both teams will engage in back-to-back seven-inning doubleheaders.

Wayne State currently holds a 2-2 record following their split series at Newberry. Key performances came from Reagan Paulina, who achieved a .455 batting average, and Gavin Nash, who maintained a 0.00 ERA over five innings pitched. Drew Hill also contributed significantly with five hits, while Rocco Cardinale made two bullpen appearances without allowing an earned run.

Ohio Dominican enters the series with an 0-4 record after being swept by Coker earlier this month. Their previous matchups ended with scores of 6-4, 18-1, 15-8, and 4-3. Historically, Wayne State leads the all-time series against Ohio Dominican with a record of 22 wins to 10 losses.

Offensively for Ohio Dominican, senior third baseman Jake Scherette has been leading with a .400 batting average and five RBIs. Senior left fielder/second baseman Drew Emerson follows closely with a .385 average. However, the Panthers' pitching staff has faced challenges, posting a collective ERA of 13.18 over 28 innings.

Trayce Mercer stands out among Ohio Dominican's pitchers by allowing only one earned run across six innings this season. Last year as a freshman, Mercer recorded an ERA of 6.06 over 49 innings.

In preseason rankings within the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC), Ohio Dominican was projected to finish second in the South Division. Head coach Christopher Antonides leads the team in his eighth year at ODU and holds an overall coaching record of 200 wins to 167 losses.