OWENSBORO, Ky. – The Kentucky Wesleyan baseball team (26-20, 16-12 G-MAC) split its final Panther Park doubleheader of 2026 on a rainy Friday against Ohio Dominican.
After scoring 30 runs in yesterday's doubleheader, the Panthers offense picked up right where it left off in Game 3 of the series after starter Cole Peaslee (ND, 5 SO) put ODU down in order in the first. Liam Hutson singled, Jacob Riegel walked, and Baron Ratliff reached on an error to load the bases with no outs. Rhett Dysholm came up next and took advantage of another error to reach safely and allow Hutson to score. Later in the frame, a wild pitch allowed Ratliff to cross the plate and gave Wesleyan an early 2-0 lead.
KWC added another run in the bottom of the second, using an Elijah Stockton walk, a Hutson single, and a Riegel RBI single to extend their advantage to 3-0. That score held until the top of the fourth, in which ODU plated five runs to turn the game on its head and take a 5-3 lead.
The Panthers did not wait long to respond. Riegel singled, Ratliff reached on a fielder's choice, and Dysholm tied the game with his fifth home run of the season over the center field wall to set up an exciting final three frames in the seven-inning affair.
Josh Tucker (W, 4-3) came on for Peaslee in the top of the fifth and tallied two strikeouts in a shutout frame. In the bottom half, Colson Perry was hit by a pitch to lead things off before Logan Molnar drove in Perry with a triple down the right field line. Tucker Hagan continued the momentum with a double to right-center field that plated Molnar before Stockton followed by reaching on an error, allowing Hagan to cross the plate as well and sending the Panthers to the sixth with an 8-5 lead.
ODU (18-24, 13-15 G-MAC) hit a two-run home run in the top of the sixth to pull within one run, but Wesleyan again had another strong response in their half at the plate. After the first two outs were recorded, Hagan was hit by a pitch and Stockton doubled to drive in Hagan. Hutson came up next and worked a walk to set up Riegel, who cleared the bases with a triple and put KWC up four at 11-7.
David Castleberry came on to close out the game in his final appearance at Panther Park. After ODU made some hard contact against the righty and tallied two runs, Castleberry stayed resilient and earned back-to-back strikeouts to finalize the 11-9 triumph.
Hutson and Riegel each had three hits and a walk to lead the offense. The former had a double and scored two runs and the latter had a triple and three RBIs. Stockton's double, Molnar's triple, and Dysholm's home run accounted for Wesleyan's other three extra-base hits.
The fourth and final game of the series did not go the way of KWC. Ohio Dominican scored two runs in the first and four in the fifth to put Wesleyan on the ropes, and after a 54-minute rain delay, the road team closed out their eventual 9-3 win to salvage the four-game set.
Luke Renfrow tallied the primary highlight for the Panthers with his sixth home run of the season. Dysholm had the only other Wesleyan extra-base hit with a double.
Jacob Dilday pitched 1.2 scoreless innings of relief while allowing just one hit, and Zach Taylor racked up four strikeouts in 2.0 innings of work.
After the conclusion of the doubleheader, KWC honored the following 12 seniors after their last game at Panther Park: David Castleberry, Jacob Dilday, Rhett Dysholm, Tucker Hagan, Logan Molnar, Evan Oakley, Cole Peaslee, Colson Perry, Justin Stimpson, Zach Taylor, Josh Tucker, and Blaise Wall.
Wesleyan next heads to North Canton, Ohio, for their final series of the regular season against the leaders of the South Division, the Walsh Cavaliers. First pitch on Saturday, May 1st, is set for 12:00 PM live on FloCollege.
Visit kwcpanthers.com/give today to make a gift to Kentucky Wesleyan Athletics! Gifts can be directed to general athletics, our athletic endowment, or any of our 14 NCAA Division II programs.
Stay up to date on all your Panther news by following @KWCPanthers on X and Instagram and by liking the "Kentucky Wesleyan College Athletics" Facebook page. Also, the Panthers Mobile App is available on iTunes and Android featuring real-time news alerts, schedules, exclusive multimedia content, gameday details and more.
