Baseball scores 3-2 win over #1 Marietta as part of doubleheader split

By Wes Mayberry

MARIETTA — The Ohio Northern baseball team opened Ohio Athletic Conference play on Saturday getting a 3-2 win over No. 1 Marietta as part of a doubleheader split at Pioneer Park.

The Polar Bears (6-9 overall, 1-1 OAC) fell 8-0 to the Pioneers (14-3, 1-1 OAC) in Game 1 of the doubleheader.

Junior Tim Knapschaefer (Maria Stein/Marion Local) got the pitching start for Northern in the second game and got his first win of the season after throwing seven scoreless innings while allowing just six hits and one walk and striking out five.

Sophomore Noah Truax (Lewis Center/Bishop Watterson) pitched the final two innings and tallied a pair of strikeouts en route to picking up his first save of the season.

Two of the Polar Bears' three runs came in the first inning after freshman Sam Sells (Columbus/Olentabgy Orange) hit a leadoff single and advanced to second on a wild pitch.

Freshman Hunter Kauser (Paulding/Exempted Village) and senior Corey McMann (Flower Mound, Tex./Liberty Christian) followed with back-to-back RBI doubles to give ONU an early 2-0 lead.

Knapschaefer continued keeping Marietta off the scoreboard, and the ONU offense provided more run support in the top of the fifth inning when freshman Sam Harrison (Perrysburg/St. Francis de Sales) came home to score on a wild pitch.

That extra run proved to be vital, as the Pioneers finally broke through with a pair of runs in the bottom of the eighth inning that was highlighted by a Drew Holderbach RBI double.

Holderbach later advanced to third base on a wild pitch but was stranded there when Truax induced a popout off the bat of Alex Richter.

Truax hit the first batter he faced in the bottom of the ninth but got an out via a fielder's choice sandwiched between a pair of strikeouts to secure the win for ONU.

Earlier in the day, the Polar Bears were held to five hits, all of which were singles, in the 8-0 loss as Marietta starting pitcher Trent Valentine improved to 5-0 on the season after throwing eight scoreless innings while giving up four hits and one walk and striking out 11.

Junior Jacob Wenning (Coldwater) paced the ONU offense with two hits in the game.

The Pioneers scored a run in each of the first three innings and added two runs apiece in the fourth and fifth frames to go with one more in the seventh.

Damian Yenzi and Trent Castle tallied three hits each, and Zach Boyd added a home run to pace a Marietta offense that finished with 11 hits.

The Polar Bears return to action on Tuesday when they host Trine (Ind.) at 4 p.m.