Frey strikes out career-high 11 batters as Baseball defeats area-rival Bluffton 10-3

By Caleb Scott

BLUFFTON — Junior Austin Frey (Peoria, Az./Sunrise Mountain) was spectacular on the mound on Thursday afternoon, leading the Ohio Northern baseball team to a 10-3 victory over area-rival Bluffton at Memorial Field on Thursday afternoon.

The Polar Bears won their third straight game and moved to 22-10 on the season, while the Beavers drop to 16-14.

Frey fanned a career-high 11 batters in the victory, tossing six innings and only allowing one run.

The Polar Bear offense also had an impressive day, notching 10 runs on 14 hits.

Bluffton got on the board first in the bottom half of the first inning to take a 1-0 lead.

Freshman Tyler Randick (Flushing, Mich.) plated senior Jason Burkett (Maumee) in the top of the second inning with a single to tie the game at 1-1.

Northern broke the tie in the top of the fifth inning, scoring four runs to give ONU a 5-1 advantage.

Following a double from senior Hayden Shenefield (Powell/Worthington Kilbourne), senior Jordan Bostater (Bryan) singled and pushed Shenefield to third base. A sacrifice fly from Burkett would plate Shenefield for the first run of the inning.

Hits from sophomore Phil Buckingham (Wayne/Elmwood), Randick and a double from senior Kyle Schlade (Hamilton/Talawanda) plated three more runs as ONU opened up a 5-1 lead.

The Polar Bear offense added five more runs in the top of the sixth inning to extend its lead to 10-1.

Buckingham, Randick, Bostater, junior Caleb Thomas (Strongsville) and freshman Krue Thwaits (Greenville/Milton Union) each scored in the inning.

Bluffton would add two more runs but couldn't get any closer as ONU went on to win 10-3.

Buckingham led the way offensively, going 3-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI, while Bostater was 2-for-3 for two runs scored.

Northern will return to action on Saturday afternoon as it travels to New Concord to take on Muskingum in an important Ohio Athletic Conference twinbill at 1 p.m.