Baseball opens OAC schedule with two close losses at No. 2-ranked Marietta

By: Jay Garneau

MARIETTA – The Ohio Northern baseball team was unable to upset No. 2 ranked Marietta, falling 7-3 and 5-4 in an Ohio Athletic Conference double header at Don Schaly Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Ohio Northern falls to 6-12 and 0-2 in the OAC, while the defending national champions improve to 14-3 and 2-0 in the league.

Freshman Dan Belliveau went 2-for-4 with an RBI to lead ONU in the opener, while junior Cory Martin hit a grand slam in the nightcap.

Poor defense hampered the Polar Bears in the first game, as four ONU errors led to four unearned Marietta runs, including one in the first inning to give the Pioneers a 1-0 lead.

Northern took the lead in the third, as sophomore Brian Thomas singled and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt, then scored on a Belliveau RBI single.

After a single from senior Eric Yunker, senior Matt Hampshire drove in Belliveau with another single down the left field line.

Yunker then scored on a Marietta error to push the lead to 3-1.

Marietta responded with four runs in the bottom of the inning on four hits and one ONU error to take a 5-3 advantage.

The Pioneers closed out the scoring when a two-run Evan Brockmeier single plated two more unearned runs in the fourth.

ONU loaded the bases in the seventh, Marietta's Logan Lewis was able to escape the jam.

Austin Price (1-2) took the loss for ONU, while Austin Blaski earned the win and improved to 4-1 on the year.

Junior Bryce Sedio, senior Aaron Johnson and junior Craig Leopold combined for 3.0 scoreless innings of relief, allowing just one hit.

In the nightcap, Marietta once again opened up the scoring, this time plating four runs in the bottom of the third.

ONU tied it the next half-inning, when senior Josh Murphy and Belliveau walked and Yunker singled to set up Martin's grand slam, his second homer of the year.

The grand slam was the third of the year for ONU as a team.

Marietta regained the lead for good in the fifth, when an ONU throwing error allowed Tim Saunders to score.

2011's Division III Pitcher of the Year Brian Gasser earned the win, allowing four hits and three walks over 6.0 innings, and Kyle Lindquist shut down Northern in the late innings, tossing 3.0 scoreless innings allowing one hit, no walks and striking out three batters.

Cody Fisher took the loss, despite throwing 6.0 innings and allowing four hits.

Sophomore Andrew Tople and senior Justin Good each threw a perfect inning in relief for ONU.

The Polar Bears will look to rebound when they head to Capital on Tuesday for an OAC double header at 1 p.m.