Review: Polar Bear Baseball hangs tough through 2011's roller coaster season
By: Jay Garneau
ADA — The Ohio Northern baseball team battled through a season of ups and downs to record its second-straight season with a record of .500 or better, finishing the season 19-19 overall.
The Polar Bears were led by Honorable Mention All-Ohio Athletic Conference honoree senior Adam Yunker, one of only two Polar Bears to start every game.
Yunker finished the year with a .333 average, 11 doubles, and team-highs of 32 runs and 15 stolen bases.
He also finished his career with 129 hits, placing him in 29th on ONU's all-time hit list.
Sophomore Shane Parks also entered the ONU record books, breaking the single-season record for saves with nine, which also tied his career record.
Parks finished the year 3-0 with a stellar 0.88 ERA, fourth-best in program history, allowing opponents to hit just .217 against him, also fourth-best all-time.
Junior Matt Hampshire had another solid season himself, leading the squad in batting average (.345), doubles (12) and triples (two).
He currently sits in 28th-place in the program's history with 130 career hits.
The starting rotation was led by sophomore Austin Price and junior Cody Fisher.
Price finished the season 3-6 with a 2.90 ERA, while Fisher notched a 2-4 record and 3.21 ERA.
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For the second straight season, ONU finished its spring trip without a loss, this time with a 5-0 record to start the year.
The team also had a three-game winning streak with a win against Albion (Mich.) and two over Marian (Ind.), before another four-game streak by sweeping doubleheaders against OSU-Lima and Goshen (Ind.), which put its record at 12-4 heading into OAC action.
Northern's conference play was highlighted by a 1-0 victory over fifth-ranked Heidelberg, featuring 7.2 scoreless innings by Fisher and 1.1 shutout innings by Parks to close out the game.
ONU also picked up conference wins over Capital, Baldwin-Wallace and Muskingum to complete OAC action with a 4-14 record.
During the season, sophomore Cory Martin was named OAC Hitter of the Week twice, while classmate Craig Leopold also garnered conference Pitcher of the Week.
Additional awards garnered by the Polar Bears included Fisher being named Academic All-OAC and junior Justin Good also earning Honorable Mention for Baseball.