Baseball drops non-conference game to Defiance 12-1

By Steven Wright

ADA - The Ohio Northern baseball team collected just six hits compared to 15 for Defiance, as the Yellow Jackets defeated the Polar Bears 12-1 Wednesday afternoon at Wander Field.

The loss drops the Polar Bears to 23-10 on the season, while the Yellow Jackets improve to 13-19 this year.

Jacob Taylor picked up the victory for Defiance and is now 2-4 by pitching seven innings, scattering four hits and allowing just one earned run. Sophomore Ryan Damman went four innings and gave up seven earned runs to take the loss and fall to 4-3.

Senior Polar Bear Loren Fleischman provided most of Ohio Northern's offense on the day, going 2-for-3 with the team's only RBI of the game.

Fleischman's two base hits give with 116 for his career and put him at 35th all-time in ONU history for career base hits.

Northern's only run came in the bottom of the seventh inning.

Back-to-back singles by sophomore Matt Hampshire and senior Brett Katana put two Polar Bears on the base paths with one out. After DC recorded the second out of the inning, Fleischman delivered the two-out base hit to center field that brought Hampshire around to score.

The Yellow Jackets scored at least one run in the second, third, fifth, sixth, eighth and ninth innings.

Senior second baseman Greg Gibbons went 1-for-4 at the plate to extend his hitting streak to eight games. He has now hit safely in 19 of his last 20 contests.

His base hit also gives him 155 for his career, good enough for 12th all-time in ONU history. Katana was also 1-for-4, giving him 161 hits and putting him ninth overall at ONU.

Ohio Northern will look to rebound and extend its four-game Ohio Athletic Conference winning streak on Saturday when Mount Union comes to Wander Field for a doubleheader at 1 pm. Senior Day ceremonies will take place prior to the first pitch of Game 1.