BECKLEY, W. Va. - The Davenport baseball team could not have asked for a better start to the 2019 season as they completed a three-game sweep of Ohio Valley on Friday with a 13-1 win. DU had 17 hits in the contest including seven extra-base hits of which three were home runs.

The Panthers wasted no time with five runs in the top of the first inning off starter Ryan Valentine. DU showed Valentine no love as Alex Huard singled and Nolan Bryant tripled him home for a 1-0 lead. Noah Marcoux then hit his first home run of the season to center as Bryant scored ahead of him for a 3-0 cushion. Travis Harvey drew a walk and stole second base with one out. Matt Houle then hit his second home run of the series to left center for a 5-0 advantage.

Cal Djuraskovic took it from there as he pitched five scoreless innings of one-hit ball. He walked just one and struck out six batters to pick up his first win at Davenport. DU added a pair of runs in the third courtesy of a lead-off homer by Harvey and a throwing error allowing Hunter Ruhstorfer to score the seventh run. Valentine was pulled with one out and Austin Bissell took over.

DU scored once in the fourth and twice more in the fifth off Chase Weihl. Nolan Bryant scored an unearned run reaching on an error by Bryce Strawderm and then Jacob Buchberger delivered a RBI single in the fourth. Ruhstorfer doubled to start the fifth and Jimmy Filipski brought him home on a groundout to second base. Huard reached on a two-out error and Bryant made it hurt with a RBI single for a 10-0 lead.

The Panthers scored once in the sixth as Marcoux doubled and later scored on a Houle grounder to shortstop. Ohio Valley scored once in the bottom of the sixth off Cole Sanderson. He went two innings and allowed two hits with three walks and two strikeouts. Evan Maize pitched a clean eighth with two strikeouts. Max Swan closed it out in the ninth allowing one hit.

Davenport concluded their scoring in the seventh with two runs. Filipski reached on an error (OVU made five in the contest) and pinch hitter Connor Zuidema drove him home with a triple to right center. Cobe Huizenga hit a sacrifice fly next to score Zuidema.

Huard, Bryant, Damion Pompey, Marcoux and Ruhstorfer each had multi-hit games. Ruhstorfer went 3-for-3 with a walk and two runs scored including a double. DU batted .353 in the series and outscored the Fighting Scots 33-8 in the process. The pitching staff had a 2.88 ERA with 11 walks and 22 strikeouts.