St. Francis (Ind.) tops Baseball 9-2 in non-conference contest

By Tim Glon

ADA -- Saint Francis (Ind.) had 16 hits and took advantage of four ONU errors to post a 9-2 victory over Ohio Northern Monday afternoon in non-conference baseball action at Wander Field.

The Polar Bears fall to 9-9, while the Cougars improve to 13-14.

Brett Katana had the offensive highlight for the Polar Bears, when he drilled a double to deep center field to score Adam Yunker in the bottom of the seventh to pull Northern within 8-2.

St. Francis scored four runs in the top of the fourth inning, keyed by a two-out, two-run triple by Travis Potchka, to take a 4-0 lead.

Northern pulled within 4-1 in the home half of the fifth inning when Eric Yunker drew a leadoff walk and later scored on a ground out by Greg Gibbons.

USF made it 7-1 with three more runs in the top of the sixth, chasing ONU starter Jacob Drerup (1-3).

Scott Bickel (2-0) allowed only two hits and struck out five in 6.0 innings of work to pick up the win for the Cougars.

Mike Ybarra picked up his first save of the season, throwing three innings of relief.

The Polar Bears will return to action on Wednesday with a contest against area-rival Defiance at 4 pm at Wander Field.