Heidelberg scores early and often to sweep Baseball 3-1, 15-4

By Steven Wright

ADA - Ohio Athletic Conference leading Heidelberg flexed its muscles and beat the Ohio Northern baseball team in a conference doubleheader 3-1 and 15-4 Thursday afternoon at Wander Field.

The Polar Bears fall to 12-15, 3-7, while the Student Princes are now 25-5, 10-2.

Sophomore Justin Miller and junior Brett Katana took the losses for ONU to fall to 4-3 and 0-2, respectively.

Brian Koehl (4-2) and Nathan James (4-0) picked up the victories for HU.

In Game 1, Heidelberg shortstop Jason Lash gave the Student Princes the only two runs they needed with a two-run home run to left field, scoring Jeremy Wentworth who led off the game with a four-pitch walk.

Miller settled down after that and did not give up an earned run the rest of the contest. He pitched complete game with eight strikeouts and allowed six hits.

Northern was able to muster one run in the top of the fifth inning.

Sophomore Adam Yunker led off the inning with a double to right center field.

Junior Matt Rader then reached on a fielder's choice bunt and advanced Yunker to third base while reaching first.

Yunker came around to score when junior Brett Katana grounded into a double play, giving the Polar Bears their only run of the game.

Heidelberg again got off to a quick start in Game 2 with three runs in the top of the first and never looked back.

Freshman Eric Yunker scored ONU's first run in the third inning when fellow freshman Ben Stoll drilled a triple to center field and cut the lead to 3-1.

The Student Princes then scored one in the fourth, three in the fifth and five in the seventh to take a commanding 12-1 lead.

ONU had a spark of offense in the bottom half of the seventh when junior Loren Fleischman led off the inning with a first-pitch home run over the left field fence.

Two batters later, Eric Yunker scored his second run of the game when he jacked his first career home run over the left field fence.

Fleischman knocked in ONU's final run in the bottom of the eighth when he hit a single to right center field that plated freshman Jared King.

Ohio Northern will look to move up in the OAC standing on Saturday when the Polar Bears host conference-foe Capital at 1 pm at Wander Field.