McMann smacks 15th career home run, leads Baseball in 6-4 victory over Bluffton

By Tim Glon

ADA — Senior Corey McMann (Flower Mound, Tex./Liberty Christian) smacked his 15th career home run to lead the Ohio Northern baseball team in a 6-4 victory over area-rival Bluffton on a warm Tuesday afternoon at Wander Field.

The Polar Bears improve to 13-9 on the season, while the Beavers fall to 11-8.

Northern took a quick 2-0 lead in the home half of the first on RBI hits by senior Jacob Wenning (Coldwater) and senior Nate Webb (Bath, Ind./Union County).

Sophomore Sam Harrison (Perrysburg/St. Francis de Sales) scored on a squeeze bunt by sophomore Elliott Veenstra (Findlay/Liberty-Benton) in the bottom of the second to up the lead to 3-0.

Junior Logan Stevens (Plain City/Jonathan Alder) singled home sophomore Andrew Stechschulte (Findlay) in the bottom of the fourth to make it 4-1 ONU.

McMann's 2-run bomb in the home half of the sixth increased the lead to 6-1.

But Bluffton's Ayden Spriggs would hit a 2-run home run in the top of the seventh and a solo shot in the top of the ninth to get BU within 6-4.

But sophomore Vaughn Duncan (Springfield) would close the door on the Beavers and pick up his league-leading seventh save of the season.

Sophomore Blake Altaffer (Montpelier) went 7.0 innings, allowing five hits and only two earned runs to pick up the win and improve to 3-0 on the season.

The Polar Bears will return to Ohio Athletic Conference action on Friday with a double header at Muskingum.