OWENSBORO, Ky. – The Kentucky Wesleyan baseball team scored a staggering 30 runs combined across both games on their way to a doubleheader sweep of Ohio Dominican on Thursday at Panther Park.
ODU scored a run in the top of the first against Panthers starter Evan Oakley (W, CG, 7.0 IP, 3 R, 2 ER, 8 SO) and blanked Wesleyan in both the first and the second, but that was about as good as things would get for the road team.
Wesleyan plated the first three of their 16 runs in the bottom of the third. Elijah Stockton ripped a leadoff single, Liam Hutson reached on a fielder's choice, and Jacob Riegel began his fantastic day with a double to put two in scoring position with just one out. Baron Ratliff took advantage with his fifth home run of the season to put the Panthers up 3-0.
After ODU went down in order in the top of the fourth, Wesleyan added another run on a solo shot from Stockton, his second of the campaign. The road team earned two runs in the top of the fifth to pull within one, but KWC broke the game wide open in the bottom half.
Riegel led off the bottom of the fifth with his own solo home run, his seventh of the year, to double the Panthers lead at 5-3. Ratliff was next hit by a pitch and Rhett Dysholm reached on an error to put two on for Ellis Hurt, who delivered with a single to drive in another run. Colson Perry followed with his own single to load the bases for Logan Molnar. The shortstop was hit by a pitch to allow Dysholm to score before ODU made a pitching change.
After the switch, Tucker Hagan singled on the first pitch he saw to plate Hurt and Stockton followed with another single to drive in two more runs. Liam Hutson hit a sacrifice fly that drove in Molnar before Riegel put a cap on the outburst with his second home run of the inning and eighth of the season, sending Wesleyan to the sixth with a 13-3 advantage.
Hutson hit yet another Panthers home run, his 12th of the campaign, in the bottom of the sixth to put three additional runs on the board in the eventual 16-3 win.
Riegel went 3-3 with two home runs, a double, and a walk to lead the offensive explosion. Stockton also had three hits, highlighted by his home run, and Ratliff had a double and a home run as one of three Panthers (Hurt, Hagan) with two hits on the day.
Game two was much of the same for KWC. This time, Wesleyan got the scoring started after Hutson walked and Dysholm later lifted a sacrifice fly to bring the former home in the top of the first.
In their second turn at the plate in the bottom of the second, the Panthers once again broke the game wide open. Hagan reached on an error, Molnar singled, and Stockton walked to load the bases with one out. Hutson came up next and worked his own walk to scratch one run across, and Riegel followed with a single to tally another for Wesleyan. After ODU recorded the second out, KWC tacked on three more runs in the frame on a Dysholm RBI walk, a Hurt two-RBI single, and a Hagan two-RBI double to take a commanding 8-0 lead into the final five innings.
The Panthers added one run in the fourth, three in the fifth, and two in the sixth in their ensuing 14-2 triumph.
Starter Ethan Ell (W, 4-4) shined with eight strikeouts and just two earned runs over 6.0 innings pitched. Weston Miller came on for the final inning and logged a strikeout in a scoreless appearance.
Hutson was the star of game two, going 2-3 with two doubles, two walks, and four RBIs. Hagan also had two doubles to notch back-to-back two-hit games. Riegel also registered consecutive two-hit games with two singles in the victory.
Wesleyan is back at Panther Park tomorrow, Friday, April 24th, for their final two home games of the 2026 season. Both games, along with the Senior Day ceremony postgame, will be broadcast live on FloCollege.
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