Baseball sweeps area-rival Bluffton in twinbill at Wander Field

By Caleb Scott

ADA -- The Ohio Northern baseball team swept area-rival Bluffton 3-1, 4-3 Monday afternoon in a twinbill at Wander Field.

The Polar Bears improve to 15-14 overall, while the Beavers fall to 11-16.

In the first contest sophomore Luke Klinehoffer (Zanesville/John Glenn) and junior Jason Burkett (Maumee) each recorded two hits in the game one victory.

Klinehoffer was a combined 4-for-7 with one RBI and two runs scored on the afternoon.

Bluffton got on the board first in game one in the top of the third inning to take a 1-0 lead, before a 543 double play closed the inning out.

Northern answered in the bottom of the third inning with a 3-run inning to take a 3-1 lead.

With the bases loaded, senior Kyle Schlade (Hamilton/Talawanda) hit a sac fly to center field to plate freshman Scott Beaton (Novi, Mich.) and knot the game at 1-1.

Back-to-back singles from junior Hayden Shenefield (Powell/Worthington Kilbourne) and Klinehoffer would score freshman Phil Buckingham (Wayne/Elmwood) and junior Jordan Bostater (Bryan) to give ONU a 3-1 lead and seal the game one victory.

Bluffton got out to an early lead in game two after a 2-run home run in the top of the third inning gave BU a 2-0 lead.

The Polar Bears would get in the scoring column in the bottom of the fourth inning as Burlett hit a 2-RBI triple to the center field fence and plated Klinehoffer and sophomore Caleb Thomas (Strongsville) to tie the game at 2-2.

BU would add one more run in the top of the fifth inning to take a 3-2 lead.

Northern would take control of the contest in the bottom of the sixth inning after Thomas hit a single to right field and plated Shenefield and Klinehoffer and give ONU its first lead of the day at 4-3.

The Polar Bears return to action Wednesday at 1 pm as they travel to Berea to take on Baldwin Wallace in a twinbill.