Baseball ends Spring Break trip with double header split against WPI

By Caleb Scott

WINTER HAVEN, Fla. — The Ohio Northern baseball team ended its annual Spring Break trip with a double header split against WPI in Winter Haven, Fla. on Saturday afternoon at Chain of Lakes Park.

The Polar Bears move to 6-4 overall, while the Engineers move to 6-4 overall.

Freshman Phil Buckingham (Wayne/Elmwood) went a combined 4-for-7 at the plate to lead the Polar Bears in the contests.

Senior Devin Carr (Newark/Licking Valley) picked up the victory on the mound in the first game to improve to 2-0 on the season after going 6.0 innings and striking out four batters.

Junior T.J. Storer (Loveland/Moeller) earned his third save of the season for ONU.

Northern struck first in game one as junior Dan Barna (Cranberry Township, Pa./Seneca Valley) singled to right field and plated freshman Jared Breeze (Cincinnati/Turpin) in the top of the fifth inning to give ONU a 1-0 lead.

After WPI answered back in the bottom of the sixth to tie the game at 1-1, Buckingham would get an RBI single in the top of the seventh inning to score freshman Jake Gherardi (Youngstown/Austintown-Fitch) and give ONU the 20 victory.

In the second contest, sophomore Luke Klinehoffer (Zanesville/John Glenn) opened the game with a ground out RBI to score Buckingham and give Northern an early 1-0 advantage.

WPI would score the next nine runs to take a 9-1 lead heading into the bottom of the seventh inning.

Freshman Scott Beaton (Novi, Mich.) would score on a wild pitch in the bottom of the ninth to close the gap to 9-2.

An RBI single from Buckingham would plate freshman Cam Conaway (Greenwich/South Central), but Northern could not complete the comeback as WPI went on to win 9-2.

The Polar Bears return home and open the home portion of the schedule on Mar. 14 as they host area-rival Bluffton at 4 pm.