Baseball picks up two victories against OSU-Lima to improve to 13-3 on the year

By Jay Garneau

ADA — Solid starting pitching and senior Matt Rader's second home run of the season helped the Ohio Northern baseball team sweep a doubleheader against Ohio State-Lima at Wander Field Saturday afternoon.

The Polar Bears improve to 13-3 after winning the games by scores of 7-5 and 12-1, while the Barons fall to 3-5.

Rader went 3-for-8 on the day with a homer, 2 RBIs and 3 runs.

In Game 1, freshman Austin Price improved to 4-0 by tossing 5.0 innings, allowing no earned runs (three unearned) and striking out ten batters.

In the nightcap, sophomore Ryan Damman allowed one earned run in 4.0 innings, while fanning six to improve to 3-0 on the year.

In Game 1, the Polar Bears jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the first inning.  Rader led off the inning with a single and stole second base. Senior Greg Gibbons then singled him home before scoring on an error to make it a 2-0 game.

After the Barons picked up three unearned runs in the top of the third, ONU added three more runs in the bottom of the inning to retake the lead.

Sophomore Matt Hampshire doubled deep to center field and senior Brett Katana was hit by a pitch before senior Loren Fleischman doubled to right-center to knock both runners in and take a 4-3 lead.

ONU added three insurance runs in the fourth inning. Rader again started off the inning by singling and stealing second. Gibbons then tripled into the right-center gap to knock Rader in. Hampshire and Fleischman each followed that with RBI singles to increase the lead to 7-3.

OSU-Lima's first four batters reached base in the top of the sixth, before Katana came in to shut down the Barons.

With the bases loaded, Katana forced a double play and a strikeout to end the inning, and added two more strikeouts in the bottom of the seventh to pick up his fifth save of the year, making him tied for second in ONU history for a season.

Katana will move into a tie for first place all-time at ONU for saves in a year (6) and in a career (7) when he records his next save.

Fleischman, Gibbons and Hampshire each finished the game 2-for-4 and added 6 RBIs between the three of them.

Northern controlled Game 2 throughout, scoring runs in each of the first five innings, including three in the bottom of the first.

Junior Adam Yunker singled and Gibbons doubled down the left-field line to drive him in.

Hampshire followed with an RBI single, plating Gibbons. After Hampshire stole second, sophomore Eric Yunker singled Hampshire home to make it 3-0.

The following inning, Hoelzel started a two-out rally with a double before Rader drilled his second career home run over the left field fence to increase the lead to five.

Adam Yunker tripled and scored when Gibbons, after walking, drew a throw at first base, allowing Yunker to advance home.

The Barons picked up their only run of the game in the third, but it was answered with an unearned run for ONU in the bottom of the frame. The Polar Bears then picked up three more runs in the bottom of the fourth to increase the lead to 10-1.

With two outs, Gibbons walked and Hampshire singled. Katana tripled off the top of the center field fence to knock in two runs, and Eric Yunker also added an RBI double to push the margin to nine.

ONU added their last two runs in the fifth when freshman Jeff Kiel drilled a double over the left fielder to knock in sophomore Mark Hayes and senior Aaron Lee.

Katana now has 144 hits in his career, still good for 16th in ONU history, while Gibbons added three hits for 126 in his career and still stands in 28th all-time.

The Polar Bears return to the diamond Wednesday when they travel to Defiance for a single game beginning at 4 pm.