Rader and Fisher have career days as Baseball drops two to Capital 8-7 and 7-5

By Steven Wright

ADA - Junior Matt Rader went 6-for-8 from the plate on the day and freshman pitcher Cody Fisher had a career-high 13 strikeouts, but Capital took two games from the Ohio Northern baseball team 8-7 and 7-5 Saturday afternoon at Wander Field.

The Polar Bears fall to 12-17 overall and 3-9 in the Ohio Athletic Conference, while the Crusaders are now 12-21, 4-10.

Rader was 2-for-3 in Game 1 with an RBI, a run scored and a stolen base. He followed that up in Game 2, going 4-for-5 with two RBIs, a double, a run scored and two stolen bases.

Fisher (1-2) started Game 2 and went 6 2/3 innings. Thirteen of the 20 outs were recorded by strikeout, as he gave up nine hits and seven earned runs in a losing effort.

Scott Montgomery went to 1-1 with a Game 2 win and Josh Belknap picked up his second save of the season.

ONU got on the board first in Game 2 when freshman Ben Stoll knocked in sophomore Mike Hoelzel from third base on a fielder's choice.

Capital took a 4-2 lead before ONU could tie the game at 4-4 in the bottom of the fourth when Rader doubled to right to drive in two.

The Polar Bears were held scoreless from then on until the bottom of the ninth inning when junior Greg Gibbons hit a pinch hit single to left that scored sophomore Adam Yunker from third base.

To begin Game 1, Capital leadoff man Zach Rigney took the first pitch of the day over the right field fence to give the Crusaders an early 1-0 lead.

Rader scored for Northern in the bottom of the first. He reached on a single, stole second and came around to score when junior Brett Katana hit a single to right field.

CU scored four more in the top of the second before ONU responded with three in the bottom half of the inning.

The score was 6-4 in favor of the Crusaders heading into the bottom of the third. Freshman Matt Hampshire led off the inning with a double down the left field line before junior Loren Fleischman drove him home a batter later with a single up the middle.

Later in the inning with two outs, sophomore Mike Hoelzel jacked his second home run of the season to right center field to tie the game at 6-6.

Capital again scored for the fourth inning in a row to take a 8-6 lead heading into the bottom of the fourth inning.

The Polar Bears got one back in the bottom of the fifth inning. Katana led off the inning with a bunt single followed by a Hampshire single to left field.

Fleischman then sacrificed each runner a base with a bunt before junior Greg Gibbons legged out an infield single to bring home Katana from third.

Zach Brown picked up the Capital win and improved to 2-5, while Matt Mercer earned his first save of the season.

Senior Brian Hill took the loss and falls to 4-5.

Ohio Northern will next be in action tomorrow when it travels to Manchester (Ind.) at 1 pm.