Wilmington tops Ohio NOrthern 2-1, 8-5 in OAC twin-bill

ADA — Senior Drew Wieland increased his strikeout total to an OAC-best 53, but the Ohio Northern baseball team dropped a pair to Wilmington on Wednesday at Wander Field.

With the losses, the Polar Bears fell to 10-16 overall and 2-4 in the Ohio Athletic Conference.

The Quakers improved to 7-10 overall and 3-5 in the OAC.

Wieland struck out nine in 5 2/3 innings, while giving up only one walk and three hits, but two unearned runs by Wilmington in the sixth ruined his great start as the Quakers took the opener, 2-1.

In the fifth inning, sophomore Greg Gibbons singled with two outs and stole second base.

Aselage followed with a single that ricocheted off Wilmington pitcher Brad Hatfield and allowed Gibbons to score to put ONU up 1-0.

In the sixth, the Quakers scored two unearned runs.

Joe Schmetzer led off the inning with a single and Tyler Ledford reached on a fielder's choice, but an error by Gibbons kept both on the bases.

A passed ball by ONU catcher Adam Grof moved both Quakers into scoring position, but Jason Iles grounded into a fielder's choice and Schmetzer was tagged out at home.

However, ONU senior reliever Nick Simoff hit Wade Rethmel to load the bases and Bryce Martin hit a two-out, two-RBI single to give Wilmington a 2-1 lead.

Wieland dropped to 1-4, while Hatfield improved to 1-1 for the Quakers.

Wilmington exploded for seven runs in the top of the first en route to an 8-5 victory in Game 2. ONU sophomore pitcher Drew Robinson gave a single and hit consecutive batters to load the bases before walking two straight to put Wilmington up 2-0 with one out in the first.

Justin Penwell, Clint Roush, Schmetzer and Ledford each followed with RBI singles to put Wilmington up 7-0 before ONU even batted.

The Polar Bears put two on the board in the third when Robinson and Grof each hit RBI singles to make the score 7-2.

Northern added three more runs in the seventh.

Robinson doubled down the left field line and scored on a throw after a single by sophomore Brett Katana, but Wilmington still had an 8-5 lead.

In the eighth, the Polar Bears put two men on with no outs, but a strikeout and a double play ended the threat.

Robinson went 6 2/3 innings and didn't give up an earned run after the first, but fell to 0-5.

He had three RBIs and two hits at the plate, though.

C.J. Lawson improved to 3-1 for the Quakers. Gibbons went 3-for-7 and scored three runs in the two games, while Grof had two hits in each game.

Ohio Northern hosts John Carroll in an OAC doubleheader this Saturday at 1 p.m. at Wander Field.