Solid offense and pitching steers Polar Bear Baseball to 4-2 win at Wittenberg

By: Jay Garneau

SPRINGFIELD — Sophomore Craig Leopold (Canton/Glen Oak) struck out nine batters and senior Erik Stegman (Parma/Parma Senior) and sophomore Cory Martin (Akron/Ellet) each had three hits to lead the Ohio Northern baseball team to a 4-2 non-conference victory over Wittenberg at Carleton Davidson Stadium on Thursday evening.

The Polar Bears improve to 14-7 overall with the victory, while the Tigers fall to 15-10.

Leopold went 8.0 innings, allowing two runs (one earned) and four hits and improves to 4-1.

Stegman went 3-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored, while Martin also went 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles to lead the ONU offense.

After Wittenberg picked up an unearned run in the second inning, junior Matt Hampshire (Lima/Elida) led off the fourth by drilling a solo homer over the left field wall, his first of the season and tenth career blast.

In the top of the fifth, senior Mike Hoelzel (Canfield) doubled and then scored on a Stegman single.

Following a sacrifice bunt, junior Eric Yunker (Holland/Toledo Christian) drove an RBI single up the middle to plate Stegman, making it a 3-1 ONU advantage.

ONU added an insurance run in the seventh, when Stegman and senior Adam Yunker (Holland/Toledo Christian) led off the inning with back-to-back singles before a Wittenberg error and passed ball allowed Stegman to touch home, giving Northern the 4-1 lead.

The Tigers picked up another run in the eighth, but sophomore Shane Parks (Boardman) had a 1-2-3 ninth inning to pick up his fifth save of the season, tying him for the third-most in ONU history.

Adam Yunker and Hampshire each have 112 career hits, tied for 36th-most in program history, while Hoelzel's 103 hits make him tied for 45th.

The Polar Bears will be back in action Saturday when they travel to No. 3-ranked Marietta for an Ohio Athletic Conference doubleheader at 1 p.m.