Baseball falls 8-6, 11-3 in regular season finale on Senior Day

By Caleb Scott

ADA — The Ohio Northern baseball team ended its regular season after falling 8-6, 11-3 against Wilmington on Senior Day at Wander Field on Saturday afternoon.

The Polar Bears (27-13 overall, 11-7 Ohio Athletic Conference) are currently in a 2-way tie with Heidelberg for the No. 3 seed in the OAC standings.

Northern recognized its seven seniors in a post game ceremony as Kyle Schlade (Hamilton/Talawanda), Dan Barna (Cranberry Township, Pa./Seneca Valley), Jordan Bostater (Bryan), Jason Burkett (Maumee), Brandon Kasberg (Mentor), Hayden Shenefield (Powell/Worthington Kilbourne) and T.J. Storer (Loveland/Moeller) were all honored.

Junior Luke Klinehoffer (Zanesville/John Genn) became ONU's single season hits record holder after going after posting two hits this afternoon. He now has 68 hits this season.

As a team, Northern broke the single season record at ONU with 457 hits this season.

Wilmington scored the first run of the contest, but a single from Schlade knotted the game at 1-all after the second inning in game one.

Junior Caleb Thomas (Strongsville) hit a 2-RBI double to right center in the bottom of the third inning before a single from Bostater pushed the lead to 4-1.

After Wilmington climbed back into the contest to tie the game at 4-all, freshman Will Davis (Upper Arlington/Bishop Watterson) crossed home plate in the bottom of the fifth to give ONU a 5-4 lead. The Quakers were able to answer in the top of the sixth inning with three runs to take a 7-5 lead.

Northern was able to cut the gap to 7-6 in the bottom of the fifth inning as Klinehoffer hit a double to left center and plated Kasberg. 

Wilmington would tally a late run as it went on to win 8-6.

In the second contest the Quakers scored the contests first four runs before ONU tallied two runs in the bottom of the fifth inning as Klinehoffer and sophomore Phil Buckingham (Wayne/Elmwood) each hit sacrifice flies to cut the lead to 4-2.

Wilmington responded with a 7-run sixth inning before ONU tried to rally as Kasberg plated Bostater with a single in the bottom of the seventh. Wilmington would go on to seal the contest and claim game two, 11-3.

Ohio Northern will await the results of tomorrow's twinbill between John Carroll and Baldwin Wallace for their post season fate. A victory by JCU in either of the two contests pushes ONU into the OAC Tournament for the first time since the 2000 season.

A sweep by Baldwin Wallace would create a 3-way tie for third place in the OAC standings and ONU will have to wait for the league office to break the tie for its post season bid to the OAC Tournament.