Freshmen Kyle Lawrence, Joe Tootle shine as Baseball defeats Allegheny (Pa.)

By Wes Mayberry

ADA — Freshmen pitchers Kyle Lawrence (Valparaiso, Ind.) and Joe Tootle (Powell/Olentangy Liberty) shined on the mound in leading the Ohio Northern baseball team to an 8-3 win over Allegheny (Pa.) on Sunday afternoon at Wander Field.

The Polar Bears improve to 10-10 overall on the season, while the Gators fall to 13-5.

Allegheny entered Sunday averaging 7.6 runs per game, but Lawrence and Tootle held the Gators well under that mark.

Lawrence got the start and earned the win to improve to 1-1 on the season. He allowed just one earned run on seven hits and two walks while striking out four over six innings.

Tootle pitched the remaining three frames, shutting out the Gators while allowing just one hit and two walks while striking out six en route to earning his first career save.

The ONU pitchers got plenty of run support in the game, as the Polar Bear offense tallied 11 hits in an effort led by two each from senior Chayten Overholt (Delphos/Lincolnview) and freshman Sam Sells (Columbus/Olentangy Orange).

Sells, senior Corey McMann (Flower Mound, Tex./Liberty Christian), juniors Nate Webb (Bath, Ind./Union County) and Nick Rothmann (Westerville/Columbus Academy) and freshmen Joey Kennedy (Sterling Heights, Mich./Foley Catholic) and Ethan Spears (Oregon/Clay) had one RBI each.

Northern got the scoring started with a sacrifice fly from Webb that sent Kennedy home in the bottom of the first inning.

The Gators tied the score in the top of the second, but the Polar Bears took the lead for good with five runs in the bottom of the frame.

Overholt led off with a double, which was followed by a walk to Spears and a bunt single from Sells that loaded the bases.

The inning continued with an RBI single from Rothmann, and Spears later scored on a wild pitch.

Sacrifice flies from Kennedy and McMann put ONU up 5-1, and the Polar Bears added another run via an Allegheny error on a Webb single.

The Gators scored a run in each of the fourth and fifth innings to make the score 6-3 but were unable to get any closer as ONU added a run in each of the fifth and seventh frames.

The Polar Bears return to action on Monday for their fourth game in three days as they travel to take on Oberlin at 4 p.m.