Baseball splits double header with Cedarville

By Tim Glon

ADA -- Ohio Northern and Cedarville split a non-conference double header Thursday afternoon at Wander Field.

The Polar Bears (6-7) won the nightcap 6-5, while the visiting Yellow Jackets (12-9) won the opener 5-3 in eight innings.

Greg Gibbons finished the day 3 for 5 to lead the Ohio Northern offense.

In Game 2, Northern got on the board first with a pair of unearned runs in the bottom of the third to go up 2-0.

Gibbons led off the inning with a walk and went to second after Adam Yunker singled. They each advanced a base on a passed ball and Gibbons scored when Eric Stegman reached on an error.

Yunker then scored when Katana grounded into a double play.

Cedarville got four runs in the fourth and another run in the fifth to take a 5-2 lead.

But the Polar Bears rallied for four runs in the bottom of the fifth to regain a 6-5 lead.

Chad Coward and Gibbons each scored on a throwing error after Adam Yunker had a bunt single. One-out later, Katana singled home Yunker to tie the game at 5-5.

Mike Hoelzel broke the tie with a two-out single to score Katana with the go-ahead run.

Cody Fisher worked out of a runner on third and one out jam in the sixth and got the final five outs to hear his first career save.

Jacob Drerup (1-1) earned the win relief, allowing one run and two hits in 2.0 inn ings of work.

In Game 1, Northern got on the board first when Stegman scored on a wild pitch just before Matt Hampshire singled home Brett Katana to make it 2-0 in the bottom of the first inning.

Cedarville got an unearned run in the top of the  third to pull within 2-1.

The Polar Bears made it 3-1 when Adam Yunker doubled down the left field line and later scored on a wild pitch in the bottom of the fifth inning.

The Yellow Jackets tied the game at 3-3 with a pair of runs in the top of the seventh on a 2-run single by Alex Beelen.

Nathan Davenport then hit a two-run home run in the top of the eighth to provide the winning runs.

Hampshire went 3-for-3 with an RBI to lead Northern's 10-hit attack in Game 1.

The Polar Bears will be home again on Saturday with a double header against Davenport (Mich.) at 1 pm at Wander Field.