Katana, Hampshire lead Baseball in 17-9 loss to Misericordia (Pa.)

By Tim Glon

AUBURNDALE, Fla. -- Brett Katana and Matt Hampshire had solid days at the plate to lead the Ohio Northern Baseball team in a 17-9 loss to Misericordia (Pa.) Wednesday afternoon at the Lake Myrtle baseball complex.

The Polar Bears fall to 2-2, while the Cougars improve to 4-4.

Matt Hampshire blasted his first home run of the season in the bottom of the fourth frame, scoring Katana, to pull Northern within 12-4.

Katana finished the day 3 for 4 with two doubled, an RBI and two runs scored.

Northern got on the board in the home half of the second inning when Katana doubled, went to third on a balk and scored on a sharp single by Erik Stegman. Stegman tied the game at 2-2 when he later scored on a double by Loren Fleischman.

Misericordia blew the game open with a 6-run third frame to go up 8-2, then scored four more in the fourth to make it 12-2.

Greg Gibbons doubled in the home half of the eighth and scored from second on a deep sacrifice fly by Eric Yunker to makre the score 14-5. Later in the inning, Drew Robinson walked and scored on a double by Katana to make it 14-6.

The Polar Bears notched three more runs in the bottom of the ninth when Mark Hayeshad an RBI single and Eric Yunker had a 2-run double to complete the scoring.

Northern will return to action Friday at 11:30 am against No. 14-ranked Thiel (Pa.) at the Lake Myrtle baseball complex.