Fleischman stays hot at the plate, but Baseball gets swept by John Carroll 17-8 and 11-9
By Jay Garneau
UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS - The Ohio Northern baseball team was swept 17-8 and 11-9 by John Carroll in a crucial Ohio Athletic Conference doubleheader at Schweickert Field Saturday afternoon.
The Polar Bears drop to 26-12 (10-8 OAC) and no longer control their own destiny, while the Blue Streaks improve to 24-13 (11-5 OAC) and lock up the third seed in the OAC Tournament.
ONU would have clinched a spot in the OAC Tournament with a win in either game of the doubleheader.
Senior Loren Fleischman led the way offensively, going 5-for-7 with four RBIs to continue his hot streak for ONU.
In Game 1, ONU jumped out to an early 2-0 lead. Senior Matt Rader led off the game with a triple and scored on a single by junior Adam Yunker, who then scored on an RBI single by sophomore Matt Hampshire.
JCU put four on the board in the second, but ONU answered with three in the top of the third.
After an Adam Yunker walk, four straight singles by Hampshire, senior Brett Katana, sophomore Eric Yunker and senior Loren Fleischman gave Northern the 5-4 advantage.
The Blue Streaks then unleashed 13 straight runs over three innings to take the commanding 17-5 lead.
Senior Greg Gibbons doubled, Hampshire walked, senior Brandon Aselage had a two-run single and Fleischman had an RBI single in a last ditch effort for ONU, but JCU won 17-8.
In the nightcap, JCU got on the board first with a run in the bottom of the second, but ONU tied it up when Katana tripled and scored on a Fleischman RBI groundout.
The Blue Streaks then took what appeared to be a commanding lead with five runs in the fifth, but the Polar Bears answered back with seven runs in the top of the sixth.
Katana singled and stole second before Fleischman was hit by a pitch. After a wild pitch, junior Erik Stegman knocked in Katana with an RBI single. Aselage added an RBI single of his own to score Fleischman.
Rader then reached on an error and Adam Yunker tallied an RBI walk. Gibbons and Hampshire then drilled back-to-back two-run doubles to give ONU the 8-6 lead.
The John Carroll bats came alive in the bottom of the eighth as they reeled off three straight singles, a sacrifice fly, another single, and a huge three-run home run by Bryan Robinett to take an 11-8 lead.
In the top of the ninth, Katana, Fleischman and Stegman led off the inning with three straight singles to make the margin 11-9. After they advanced to second and third on a wild pitch, JCU's Michael Eden struck out three straight batters to close out the game.
The fate of ONU's season will be determined tomorrow when Otterbein travels to Muskingum. For the Polar Bears to gain a berth into the OAC Tournament, they need the two teams to split the doubleheader.
If Muskingum sweeps, they will have an 11-7 OAC record and leapfrog ONU for fourth. If Otterbein sweeps, they will have the same OAC record as ONU, but hold the tiebreaker by splitting with John Carroll earlier in the season.