Baseball opens up OAC season with doubleheader sweep over Capital

By Jay Garneau

BEXLEY - The Ohio Northern baseball team opened its Ohio Athletic Conference portion of the schedule with an excellent offensive performance to sweep Capital at Clowson Field Saturday afternoon.

ONU totaled 29 runs, 39 hits, and six home runs as they defeated Capital by scores of 13-12 and 16-4 to improve to 15-3 (2-0 OAC), while the Crusaders fall to 7-11 (0-2 OAC).

The Polar Bears edged out a win in the opener by a score of 13-12, as seven of ONU's nine starters had multiple hits in the game.

ONU was led by senior Brett Katana, who went 4-for-5 with a home run, 3 RBIs, and closed out the last 1.2 innings in relief.

Freshman Austin Price started and picked up the win, tossing 4+ innings to stay perfect with a 5-0 record.

After Capital took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first, ONU's offensive barrage began as the Polar Bears picked up 12 runs in three innings, beginning with two runs in the top of the second.

Katana led off the inning with a single and scored when junior Erik Stegman drilled his second homer of the season over the left center wall.

In the top of the third, ONU added six runs to take an 8-1 lead.

Senior Greg Gibbons and sophomore Matt Hampshire each singled before Katana knocked a 3-run home run, his third of the season.

Sophomore Eric Yunker then singled, which was answered with back-to-back doubles by senior Loren Fleischman and Stegman. Senior Greg Gibbons rounded out the scoring by knocking in Stegman with his second single of the inning to make it an 8-1 game.

The Polar Bears took what seemed to be a commanding lead when they added four more runs the next inning.

Katana once again led off the inning with a single and scored on Fleischman's second RBI double of the game. Senior Mike Hoelzel and senior Matt Rader each singled before junior Adam Yunker doubled down the right field line to push the lead to 12-1.

Capital chipped away at the deficit, scoring three runs in the fourth and adding four more in the fifth to cut the lead to 12-8.

ONU picked up a huge insurance run in the top of the sixth. Rader led off with a single and stole second base before scoring on an RBI single by Adam Yunker to make the score 13-8.

The Crusaders picked up four more runs in the bottom of the sixth to cut the lead to one.

Katana, who took the mound during the sixth inning, got all three batters to strike out swinging to close out the game as the ONU won 13-12.

ONU came out slugging quickly again in Game 2, picking up five runs in the top of the first.

Rader led off the game with a walk, which was followed by an Adam Yunker single. After an RBI single by Gibbons, Hampshire smashed his team-leading fourth home run of the season to make it a 4-0 game. Katana walked and was sacrificed to second and scored on a single by Stegman.

Capital picked up a run in the bottom of the first to make it a 5-1 game, before ONU answered with three more runs in the top of the fourth.

Stegman started the inning with a single, and junior Mike Hoelzel hit his second dinger of the season over the right center fence to increase the lead to 7-1. After a pitching change, Rader singled and stole second before scoring on an RBI double by Adam Yunker, pushing the lead to 8-1.

Two solo home runs by Capital in the sixth cut the margin to 8-3.

The Polar Bears took control of the game with seven more runs in the top of the eighth. Eric Yunker singled and Fleischman hit his first home run of the year, Northern's fifth blast of the day, to make it 10-3. Rader then singled and stole second.

Adam Yunker singled, and Gibbons then singled Rader home. Hampshire then blasted his second 3-run homer of the game, his fifth on the year, to give ONU a 14-3 advantage. Katana and Eric Yunker hit back-to-back doubles, making it 15-3.

Capital picked up an unearned run in the bottom of the eighth and ONU added another run on an RBI single by Josh Ward to end the game at 16-4.

Sophomore Ryan Damman improved to a perfect 4-0 with a solid start in Game 2. Damman went 6.0 innings, allowing three earned runs and fanning six batters to pick up the win.

Senior Kevin Sigg picked up his second save of the year, tossing 3.0 innings, allowing one unearned run while striking out four.

Katana picked up five hits on the day, giving him a total of 149 in his career, tying him for 13th best in ONU history. Gibbons also added five hits, now with 131 in his career, tied for 24th most.

The Polar Bears will return to the diamond Tuesday when they travel to take on NAIA-foe Cedarville in a non-conference doubleheader with the opener slated to begin at 1 pm.