Big fourth inning propels Baseball to 5-4 win over St. Scholastica (Minn.) in RussMatt Invitational

By Wes Mayberry

AUBURNDALE, Fla. — A big fourth inning propelled the Ohio Northern baseball team to a 5-4 win over St. Scholastica (Minn.) on Saturday in the RussMatt Invitational at Lake Myrtle Park.

The Polar Bears improve to 7-4 on their current spring break trip and 9-5 overall while dropping the Saints to 2-11 overall.

ONU out-hit CSS 7-4 in the game and got two hits apiece from junior Logan Stevens (Plain City/Jonathan Alder) and fifth-year senior Corey McMann (Flower Mound, Tex./Liberty Christian).

Stevens and sophomores Joey Kennedy (Sterling Heights, Mich./Foley Catholic), Andrew Stechschulte (Findlay) and Sam Harrison (Perrysburg/St. Francis de Sales) had RBIs in the game for Northern.

Junior Hayden Heche (Fort Wayne, Ind./Northrop) earned the win on the mound after pitching 4.2 relief innings. He gave up one unearned run on three hits and two walks while striking out six to improve to 1-2 on the season.

Sophomore Vaughn Duncan (Springfield) pitched a scoreless final two innings to earn his fourth save of the season.

Mitch Novak led St. Scholastica with two hits, including a double, to go with three RBIs.

The Saints scored first in Saturday's game with three runs in the top of the second inning.

With the bases loaded courtesy of a pair of walks and a hit batter, Novak hit a double to left field that plated all three runners.

The Polar Bears responded with a five-run fourth inning.

With one out and the bases loaded, Stechschulte plated McMann on a sac fly, and Harrison followed with an RBI single.

Senior Vinny Sclafani (Oak Brook, Ill./Hinsdale Central) scored when freshman Robbie Reed (Goshen, Ky./Trinity) reached base via a CSS error, tying the score at 3-3.

Back-to-back singles from Kennedy and Stevens put ONU up 5-3.

Stevens' RBI single proved to be the game-winning hit as Northern held on for the victory despite not scoring again.

The Saints scored a run in the top of the seventh via an ONU error but were unable to get any closer.

Duncan took the mound in the eighth inning for ONU and proceeded to allow just two base-runners over the final two frames to secure the victory for Northern.

The Polar Bears return to action on Sunday at 11 a.m. to face Ramapo (N.J.) for the final game of their spring break trip.