Baseball splits season-opening doubleheader with No. 25 Heidelberg

By Andrew Loewe

ADA — The Ohio Northern Baseball team split the first doubleheader of the season against No. 25 Heidelberg Saturday at Wander Field.

Heidelberg (1-1 overall) won the opener 6-5 in 13 innings while ONU (1-1) took the nightcap 5-3 in a game called in the bottom of the sixth inning due to darkness.

Junior Chayten Overholt (Van Wert/Lincolnview) went 4-for-7 with 2 triples and 2 singles on the day for the Polar Bears.

The games did not count toward the OAC Regular Season standings as each team will open the season with a 4-game series that will be treated as non-conference contests.

With the bases loaded and two outs in Game 2, freshman Noah Truax (Columbus/Bishop Watterson) saw his first action of his young career and earned the save after striking out the final Student Princes batter.

Overholt broke a 2-2 tie in the third with an RBI triple that sparked a 3-run inning to take the lead 5-2. 

The Polar Bears held the Student Princes scoreless the next two innings as starter Alex Dodson (West Chester/Lakota West) threw five innings with seven strikeouts and two hits.

In game one, Heidelberg squeaked out the victory 6-5, in 13 innings.

Junior Corey McMann (Flower Mound, Tex./Liberty Christian) started off the scoring for the Polar Bears with a two-run home run off the scoreboard in the bottom of the first inning.

After the Student Princes took a 3-2 lead in the top of the seventh, McMann recorded a two-run double to give the Polar Bears the lead once again at 4-3.

Heidelberg scored in the top of the 13th, and Ohio Northern stranded the tying run on second base on McMann's flyout to the center field warning track.

Senior Nate Bye (Thorntown, Ind./Western Boone) started the opening game for the Polar Bears and registered five strikeouts and gave up only one earned run in six innings of work.

Northern will travel to Heidelberg for for the second doubleheader of the 4-game series starting at 1 pm Sunday afternoon.