Baseball closes out regular season with 4-3 and 7-3 victories over No. 8 Heidelberg
By: Andrew Korba
ADA -- The Ohio Northern baseball team used a walkoff double in extra innings and a late inning rally to sweep No. 8 Heidelberg on Saturday afternoon at Wander Field.
The Polar Bears improve to 28-12 on the season and 11-7 in the OAC, while the Student Princes fall to 31-9, 13-5.
The two wins also keeps ONU alive in the chase for the final spot in the OAC Tournament.
Northern will find out its fate on Sunday, pending the outcome of John Carroll's double header against Muskingum.
In the first game, the teams played to a 3-3 tie through 10 innings.
In the 11th, Heidelberg loaded the bases with nobody out.
Trevor Oldham came up and flew out to right. Junior Dan Belliveau made the catch and threw a laser to the plate to gun down the go-ahead run.
Sophomore Ben Glischinski struck out the next batter to end the inning and escape the jam.
In the bottom half of the inning, senior Daniel Rodriguez singled with two outs.
Sophomore Reed Allen came up and blasted a ball to right center. The relay throw to the plate was late, giving ONU the walkoff 4-3 win.
The Polar Bears struck first on a RBI single from Rodriguez in the fourth.
Heidelberg scored three times in the fifth to take a 3-1 lead, but Rodriguez doubled home two runs in the sixth to tie the game.
Glischinski pitched two scoreless innings to get the win and move to 3-1 on the season.
Sophomore Nick Eltzroth went nine innings, giving up one earned run and striking out four batters.
In Game 2, the Student Princes jumped out to a early 3-0 lead, scoring three times in the second.
The Polar Bears battled back and got a RBI single from senior Matt Magni in the fourth, a RBI single from junior Jack LaMarca in the fifth and a RBI groundout from Magni in the sixth, to tie the game at 3-3.
ONU then grabbed the lead in the seventh, scoring four times to take a 7-3 lead.
Sophomore Andy Lubonovic walked and moved to second on a single from junior Brady Foley.
LaMarca came up and hit a ball that snuck under the glove of the second baseman, scoring Lubonovic.
Belliveau followed with a single to score Foley. The ball bounced by the center fielder on the play, allowing LaMarca to also score and put Belliveau on third.
Rodriguez came up and singled to drive in Belliveau and close out the scoring.
Freshman Devin Carr pitched out of a bases loaded jam in the eighth and ninth for his first save of the season.
Senior Chad Smith picked up the win to move to 3-1 and sophomore Zach Maier struck out six batters in six innings.