Eltzroth, Maier fire complete games as Baseball posts 8-3, 9-0 sweep at Capital

By: Andrew Korba

BEXLEY -- Sophomore Nick Eltzroth and sophomore Zach Maier each fired a complete game, as the Ohio Northern swept Capital in a double header on Saturday afternoon.

The Polar Bears are now 23-11 on the season and 9-7 in OAC play, while the Crusaders drop to 11-23, 2-14.

The double header sweep move ONU into a tie for the fourth and final spot in the OAC Tournament with Baldwin Wallace.

Northern hosts No.7-ranked Heidelberg in a double header to close out its season on May 3.

Eltzorth (5-0) struck out four batters and walked none, while Maier (4-3) gave up six hits and struck out three, for his first career shutout.

In Game 1, the teams played five scoreless innings before Northern struck for five runs in the sixth.

Junior Dan Belliveau laced a RBI single to score junior Brady Foley.

Senior Daniel Rodriguez came up and blasted a 3-run homer to make the score 4-0 in favor of Northern. The home run was his second of the year.

Sophomore Nick Guitar also scored in the sixth on a wild pitch.

The Polar Bears tacked on another run in the seventh on a RBI groundout from junior Jack LaMarca.

The Crusaders would respond with two run in the seventh and a run in the eighth to cut ONU's lead to 5-3.

But ONU put the game away in the ninth, getting a RBI double from Foley and a sac fly from Belliveau to make it 8-3.

In the second game, the Polar Bears scored a run in the second and Foley drove in another run in the third on a fielder's choice to make it 2-0.

Northern added two more runs in the fifth on a RBI single from LaMarca and a RBI groundout from Belliveau.

Sophomore Clay Small doubled in the sixth to score Eltzroth and make the score 5-0.

In the ninth, Belliveau singled home Foley to make it 6-0.

Eltzroth recorded a 2-RBI double a few batters later and Small closed out the scoring with a RBI triple.

Ohio Northern will return to action on Tuesday, when it travels to Wooster for a non-conference game at 4 pm.