Sophomores Matt Dodaro and Jake Thomas gave Wabash baseball fans a glimpse of the program's offensive future with their effort in this weekend's series against Ohio Wesleyan. The duo pounded out 13 hits, four home runs, and nine RBIs in the four games against the Battling Bishops.
Dodaro enjoyed a huge Sunday with three home runs, including two in the Little Giants' 14-6 loss in the first game on Sunday. He finished the game with a 3-for-3 effort with two RBIs and three runs scored. Thomas added three hits in four at-bats and the first RBI for Wabash after the Little Giants fell behind 2-0 in the first inning.
Kyle Rush singled to opening the bottom half of th first, moving to second on a sacrifice bunt by Bobby Ritz. Dodaro was hit by a pitch before Thomas laced a shot to right to score Rush. Dodaro came home on a sacrifice by Scott Hamilton ahead of Thomas, who scored on a double by Shaun Rico to give Wabash a 3-2 lead.
It was the only time the Little Giants led all day. OWU scored five runs in the second to cruise to the victory. The highlight moments for the Little Giants came in the fifth inning when Dodaro launched a ball over the left field fence and would have put it onto Jennison Street. However, his homer was so well timed it hit a passing car on the rooftop to send the long ball into the lore of Mud Hollow Field. He added another solo shot to open the seventh --- hitting in the very spot the young lady driving the car hit earlier in the day had parked while checking the damage to her vehicle before leaving the scene with a dent on her roof and souvenir.
Game two saw the Little Giants fall behind early again with OWU posting nine runs in the first inning and another four in the second, but the exploits of the two Little Giant hitters continued. While both would scratch only one hit each in the contest, Dodaro launched another bomb over the left field fence to lead off the fifth inning for his third long ball of the day. Thomas once again picked up his single in the first inning.
Thomas finished the weekend with seven hits, giving him 52 for the season. That puts the lefty seven away from breaking the single season mark of 56 set by Zak Judd '99 in 1997.
Dodaro added six more hits to his season totals, giving him 49 for the year. He also hit two doubles to put him at 13 for the season, one away from tying the school record of 14 set in two different seasons by Jared Bogan '06, once in 2003 and again last year. Bogan can only watch Dodaro's assault on the record from the bench, as he now serves the Little Giant team as an assistant coach.
The three home runs by Dodaro also gives him nine on the season, the third-highest single season total in Wabash history. Matt Wilhelm '01 hit 11 in 2000 and Mike Mack '04 had 10 in 2004.
The two will continue their record-chasing efforts Tuesday evening in a nine-inning contest at Rose-Hulman. The first pitch is set for 7 p.m. The season concludes Saturday afternoon with two seven-inning games against Earlham at Mud Hollow Field.