Baseball scores 7 in the top of the 9th, tops Saint John's (Minn.) 14-8

By Tim Glon

FT. MYERS, Fla. -- Ohio Northern batted around in the third and ninth innings and posted a 14-8 baseball victory over Saint John's (Minn.) Friday morning at Terry Park.

The Polar Bears improve to 5-1, while the Johnnies end their Spring Break trip with a 5-4 record.

Northern scored six times in the top of the third to take a quick 6-2 lead, then scored seven times in the top of the ninth to break a 7-7 tie and register the win.

ONU sent 11 batters to the plate in the third and 12 to the plate in the ninth.

In the third, freshman Matthew Matthaes led off the inning with a single and later scored when junior Andy Lubonovic was hit by a pitch.

Seniors Jack LaMarca and Dan Belliveau followed with back-to-back singles and junior Nick Eltzroth had an RBI ground out to make it 4-2.

Freshman Jordan Bostater then had a 2-run single to complete the rally.

After the Johnnies had pulled within 6-3, Northern got an unearned run in the top of the fifth when Eltzroth scored on a SJU throwing error.

St. John's tied it at 7-7 with two runs in the fifth, one in the sixth and one in the seventh.

In the top of the ninth, two errors sandwiched around a single by LaMarca loaded the bases with none out.

Elztroth drew a walk to make it 8-7, Bostater singled to make it 9-7 and junior Nick Guitar had a 2-run single to make it 11-7.

Freshman Brandon Kasberg had an RBI ground out and Bostater scored from second on a throwing error and the Polar Bears were up 13-7.

Lubonovic followed with an RBI single to put ONU up 14-7.

Senior Brady Foley (1-0) pitched four effective innings of relief to earn the win.

ONU had 11 hits and took advantage of eight Johnnie errors in the game.

"We beat a good team without playing our best, which is encouraging," ONU head coach Gene Stechschulte said. "We made mistakes and they took advantage of them and scored some runs. But we took advantage of their mistakes and added base hits to the rallies and turned them into two big innings."

The Polar Bears will wrap up their Spring Break schedule on Saturday with a 9 am double header against Monmouth (Ill.) at the Player Development Center.