Short-handed Baseball squad eliminated in Quarterfinals of OAC Tournament by John Carroll 8-3
By Tim Glon
ADA — A short-handed Ohio Northern squad was eliminated from the Ohio Athletic Conference Baseball Tournament in the quarterfinal round with an 8-3 loss to John Carroll on a warm Wednesday afternoon at Wander Field.
The third-seeded Polar Bears end their season with a 21-15 record, while the sixth-seeded Blue Streaks (17-20) advance to the semifinals and will play at top-seeded and No. 7-ranked Marietta on Thursday.
ONU played with just 22 available players due to COVID-19 protocol concerns.
Junior Andy Mills (Cincinnati/Saint Xavier) and senior Will Davis (Upper Arlington/Bishop Watterson) each had an RBI and scored a run to lead the Northern offensive attack.
JCU took a 3-0 lead in the top of the third, but Ohio Northern responded in the bottom half of the frame when Mills singled home freshman Noah Truax (Columbus/Bishop Watterson) get ONU within 3-1.
Trailing 6-1 in the bottom of the sixth, Davis doubled home Mills to make it 6-2. Freshman Logan Stevens (Plain City/Alder) followed with an RBI ground out to score Davis and it was 6-3.
The Blue Streaks got a 2-run home run in the top of the seventh from Justin Hanley, who finished the day 3-for-5 with 5 RBI, to end the scoring.
John Carroll pitcher Mitchell Midea (5-4) struck out 15 in 7.0 innings of work to keep the ONU offense in check most of the day.