On Thursday at Legacy Field and Prasco Park, No. 2 seed Ohio Dominican roared to life with five runs in the ninth inning to stay alive and No. 4 Lake Erie kept its postseason aspirations active with a gritty performance on the mound. 
 
ODU defeated No. 1 seed Malone, 9-5, and LEC beat No. 3 Trevecca Nazarene, 6-3. 
 
That leaves four teams left to play for the conference title and the automatic qualifying bid for the NCAA Championship Midwest Regional. 
 
The other two teams, both in winner’s bracket, will face off on Friday as No. 7 Tiffin takes on No. 5 Kentucky Wesleyan at noon ET. 
 
Ohio Dominican and Lake Erie also will play each other at 1:30 p.m. ET with three scheduled games to be completed on Friday. 
 
Bret Yutzy and Manny Voorhees homered for Ohio Dominican to officially oust top seed and conference regular-season champion Malone at Prasco Park.
 
The Panthers answered the call trailing by a run late, scoring a run in the on Yutzy’s solo shot in a pinch-hit situation. ODU scored game-tying, go-ahead and insurance runs in the ninth inning against one of Malone’s most effective arms during the regular season. 
 
Logan Giddings tossed 3.2 scoreless innings to help keep Malone at bay and be in line for the winning decision. 
 
In the other game, LEC starting pitcher Evan Layne tied the school record in strikeouts as he went the distance with 14 strikeouts. Layne was touched up for three runs on 10 hits, but delivered a memorable outing that would keep his team alive. 
 
It wasn’t an easy task to try and slow down the Trojans, a team has been accustomed to making deep playoffs runs. Sophomore Trace Peterson homered for the second straight day and Nigel Williams also parked one out of Legacy Field as winds gusted up to 35 mph for both games.