Matt Hampshire's 10th-inning homer leads Baseball to dramatic 8-7 victory over Cedarville
By Jay Garneau
CEDARVILLE - Sophomore Matt Hampshire hit a game-winning home run in the tenth inning as the Ohio Northern baseball team defeated Cedarville 8-7 in a non-conference game at Yellow Jacket Field Tuesday afternoon.
The Polar Bears improve to 16-3 overall, while the Yellow Jackets, who compete in NAIA, move to 18-9 on the year.
With the two teams battling back and forth all game, Hampshire drilled a leadoff homer over the left field wall in the top of the tenth inning to give the Polar Bears a lead they would not relinquish, as he finished the game 3-for-5 with two runs scored.
After three scoreless innings, each squad's offense broke out in the fourth inning.
ONU started the scoring in the top of the frame when senior Greg Gibbons knocked his first career home run to break the three-inning scoring drought. Hampshire and senior Brett Katana added back-to-back singles to start the rally.
One batter later, senior Loren Fleischman knocked an RBI single of his own to make it 2-0, before Katana scored on a wild pitch, as ONU snagged a 3-0 lead.
After Cedarville picked up four runs in the bottom of the inning, ONU tied it back up with a run in the top of the fifth.
Senior Matt Rader walked, stole second, and scored on an error to make it 4-4, but the Yellow Jackets retook the lead with a run in the bottom of the inning.
In the top of the sixth, sophomore Eric Yunker drilled his second career home run, a solo shot to tie the score again, this time at 5-5.
Fleischman followed Yunker's bomb with a single, and junior Erik Stegman then walked, setting the table for an RBI single by fellow junior Mike Hoelzel.
Cedarville stayed resilient, as the score was evened once more at 6-6 with an RBI double in the bottom of the seventh.
The Polar Bears were able to manufacture a run to take a 7-6 lead in the top of the ninth.
Stegman led off the inning with a double down the left field line. As Hoelzel laid down a sacrifice bunt, Cedarville attempted and failed to cut Stegman down as he headed to third. Rader sacrificed Hoelzel to second, setting up a sacrifice fly by freshman Josh Ward to give ONU the one run advantage.
After the first two batters were retired in the bottom of the ninth, Cedarville's Chris Ward singled and stole second. Paul Hembekides knocked him in with an RBI single, his third RBI of the game. Cedarville loaded up the bases, but Katana forced a popup on the infield to escape without further damage, heading into extra innings with a 7-7 score.
Hampshire led off the top of the tenth by drilling his sixth home run of the year to put Northern back on top once more by a score of 8-7.
Katana was able to close out the game in his third inning of work, striking out three, to pick up the win and improve to 2-1 on the year.
He also added his 150th career hit, becoming the 13th player in ONU history to accomplish that feat. Gibbons also moved into a tie for 22nd all time with his home run, his 132nd career hit.
Fleischman, Northern's newest addition of the 100-hit club, added two hits to give him 102 in his career, tied for 44th in program history.
ONU returns to action Saturday when they take on No. 8-ranked Marietta at Wander Field in an OAC doubleheader, with the opener slated to begin at 1 pm.