Baseball drops pair of tight games at No. 25 Heidelberg

By Tim Glon

TIFFIN — The Ohio Northern baseball team wrapped up its non-conference schedule with tight 5-1 and 4-2 losses at No. 25-ranked Heidelberg on Sunday at Peaceful Valley.

The Polar Bears fall to 1-3 overall and the Student Princes improve to 3-1.

Junior Corey McMann (Flower Mound, Tex./Liberty Christian) went 4-for-8 on the day to lead the ONU offense.

In the opener, HU scored twice in the fourth and once in the fifth, seventh and eighth innings to build a 5-0 lead.

Northern scored in the top of the ninth when McMann doubled home senior Andy Mills (Cincinnati/St. Xavier).

In the nightcap, HU built a 4-0 lead until the Polar Bears threatened in the top of the ninth.

Northern had four of its eight hits in the frame, scoring twice and loading the bases trailing 4-2.

Junior Mason Troyer (Goshen, Ind./Northridge) hit a sacrifice fly to score senior Jake Gherardi (Austintown/Austintown-Fitch) and had a two-out single to score sophomore Nate Webb (Liberty, Ind./Union County) to make it 4-2.

Sophomore Jacob Wenning (Coldwater) and junior Sam Zeleznik (Hinckley/Highland) followed with singles to lead the bases.

But Heidelberg pitcher Brian Knizner got junior Chayton Overholt (Van Wert/Lincolnview) to ground out to end the game.

The Polar Bears will begin the Ohio Athletic Conference portion of its schedule next Saturday and Sunday with a 4-game series against No. 15 Marietta.