Baseball wraps up Spring Break trip with perfect 4-0 record after beating PSU Berks 4-3

By Steven Wright

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. - Sophomore right hander Ryan Damman earned the win in his season debut to lead the Ohio Northern baseball team to a 4-3 victory over Penn State Berks Saturday morning on Griffith Field at the Ripken Experience.

Northern finishes up its spring trip to Myrtle Beach with a perfect 4-0 record.

"We're really excited about our 4-0 record to start the year," said head coach Justin Bergman. "We wanted to be able to play a lot of people while we were down here, and we accomplished that. I think we have a pretty good idea about what we have as a team heading back north."

Damman needed the first inning to settle down, as he gave up both of his earned runs in the frame. However, those were the only two runs he would give up in 6 2/3 innings of work, as he struck out seven batters, walked three and scattered five hits.

Freshman Shane Parks played the role of set up man, pitching 1 1/3 innings and striking out two. The only run he gave up was unearned in the eighth.

This set the stage for senior Brett Katana to earn his second save in just four games by pitching a scoreless top of the ninth.

Katana also led the way offensively with a 2-for-4 day and two RBIs. Seniors Matt Rader and Greg Gibbons also collected two hits on the day.

For their careers, Katana sits in 26th place all-time at Ohio Northern with 129 hits, while Gibbons is tied for 34th place all-time with 112 hits.

After falling behind 2-0 in the first, Northern knotted the game at 2-2 in the bottom of the third.

Sophomore Chad Coward led off the inning with a walk before Rader and junior Adam Yunker recorded back-to-back bunt singles to load the bases.

Katana drove in the first run when he reached on a fielder's choice, and sophomore Matt Hampshire drove in the second run on a fielder's choice one batter later.

Northern took the lead for good with a run in the fifth inning. Rader beat out an infield single, Yunker grounded out to the second baseman to advance him to second and Katana delivered an RBI single to right field to make the score 3-2.

The Polar Bears also got a much-needed insurance run in the sixth inning.

Gibbons began the action with a one-out single through the left side. He then showed great speed and hustle by advancing to third base from first base on a wild pitch before Coward singled through the right side to bring home the run.

In the ninth, Katana popped the two batters up to get two quick outs. After a single to put a runner on first base, senior center fielder Brandon Aselage made an outstanding catch that spun him around near the wall to end the game.

Ohio Northern will play next Saturday in a doubleheader at Hanover (Ind.) at 1 pm before playing a single game at Goshen (Ind.) on Sunday at 3 pm.