INDIANAPOLIS – The University of Indianapolis baseball team opened their season on a warm and windy day at Greyhound Park against the Falcons of Notre Dame College (Ohio) on Friday afternoon.
 
After falling in an early 4-0 hole, the Greyhounds' offense turned in an impressive performance on opening day, smacking 20 hits on their way to a 20-11 win over the Falcons.
 
Freshman Kyle Orloff made the biggest noise with his bat in the opener, going 4-for-6 with three home runs and six RBI in his college debut.
 
"I was seeing the ball real well from my first at bat of the day," Orloff said after the game. "With the wind blowing out, you want to try and hit it hard and high and I took advantage of that. But for our offense to come out and swing it the way we did after working as hard as we did indoors, it's a great feeling and we'll look to carry that with us to the next game."
 
Fellow freshman Devon Hensley went 4-for-4 with three runs driven in as every member of the UIndy starting lineup recorded at least one hit on the day. Anthony Asalon had three hits and Brady Thomas finished with a pair of base knocks for the Hounds. Storm Joop scored five times as well for the Greyhounds, who hit the 20-run mark for the first time since May 19, 2012 when they beat Rockhurst, 21-14.
 
In the top half of the first, the Falcons strung together a walk and four consecutive two-out singles off UIndy starter Matthew Kaplanis and held a 4-0 lead before the Hounds had stepped to the plate.
 
Kaplanis would settle down after the first and his offense picked him up in a big way with six runs in the second inning. Orloff opened the scoring with an infield single that scored Thomas and Hensley followed with a two-run double down the line to but the lead to 4-3.
 
After Asalon tied the game with an RBI single of his own, Colin Hawk plated two with a single of his own to put the Hounds in front for good.
 
Notre Dame cut the lead back to one with a solo blast in their half of the third, but UIndy re-claimed their two-run lead with an RBI triple to deep center off the bat of Hensely.
 
The Hounds put the game out of reach with eight runs in the bottom of the fourth. After RBI hits from Joe Trennepohl, Thomas and Joop, Orloff sent a deep fly ball into the wind that easily cleared the left center field fence for a long home run. When the dust settled, the Hounds held a 15-5 lead heading to the fifth.
 
Orloff added to his already impressive debut with a two-run shot in the fifth and another solo blast in the sixth to give UIndy a 20-5 lead and make Orloff the first Hound to hit three home runs in a game since Scott Mourey back on May 7, 2010 in a GLVC Tournament win over Rockhurst.
 
Notre Dame got six runs off the UIndy bullpen in the top of the ninth, but it was too little, too late for the Falcons.
 
After a rocky first inning, Kaplanis (1-0) settled down over his final four innings of work. The senior allowed four earned runs on eight hits with one walk and five strikeouts in five innings of work.
 
Jake Welch took the loss for the Falcons after being tagged for nine earned runs on eight hits with three walks and a pair of strikeouts in three-plus innings of work.
 
The two teams will wrap up the weekend series on Saturday with a pair of nine inning contests at Greyhound Park. First pitch is set for 11:00 a.m.