Belliveau, Rodriguez lead Baseball in double header split at Otterbein

By: Andrew Korba

WESTERVILLE -- Junior Dan Belliveau homered in each game and senior Daniel Rodriguez collected four hits in Game 2, to lead the Ohio Northern baseball team to a double header split with Otterbein on Wednesday afternoon at Fishbaugh Field.

Otterbein (15-9 overall, 3-5 OAC) used a ninth inning rally to win Game 1 by a 8-7 score, while the Polar Bears (17-6 overall, 5-3 OAC) took the second game 15-3.

In Game 2, Rodriguez went 4-for-5 with 5-RBI's, while Belliveau went 3-for-4 with a homer, 2-RBI's and three runs scored.

Rodriguez came up in the first inning of the second game with the bases loaded and doubled, to score all three runs and give the Polar Bears a 3-0 lead.

Otterbein would score a run in the second, but Belliveau hit a solo homer in the third to push ONU's lead back to 4-1.

The Polar Bears blew the game open in the fourth inning, scoring four times.

Sophomore Nick Guitar led of the inning with a single and junior sophomore Nick Eltzroth followed with a single.

Sophomore Andy Lubonovic singled to score Guitar and Derek Lenardos laid down a bunt and an error allowed Eltzroth to score and make the score 6-1.

Junior Jack LaMarca drove in Lubonovic on a RBI double and Lenardos came around to score on a wild pitch to close the scoring

Northern scored two more times in the seventh on a bases loaded walk by senior Matt Magni and a sac fly from Eltzroth.

RBI singles by Belliveau and Rodriguez gave Northern two more runs in the eighth and junior Brady Foley, Magni and Rodriguez all had RBI's in ONU's 3-run ninth inning.

Senior Tyler Deitering went 4.1 innings and sophomore Brandon Wilson pitched 2.1 innings in relief for his first win of the season.

In Game 1, Magni got the Polar Bears on the board in the first on a RBI single and gave ONU a 4-1 lead with a 3-run home run to right center in the fifth.

The Cardinals would battle back and tie the game in the seventh at 4-4.

In the ninth, LaMarca laced a single to put Northern ahead 5-4 and Belliveau followed with a 2-run blast to make it 7-4.

But Otterbein rallied and got a bases clearing double with two outs in the ninth, to rally for the 8-7 win.

Belliveau, LaMarca and Magni each had two hits in the second game, with Magni driving in four runs.

Belliveau now has a team leading seven home runs this season and also extended his hitting streak to 24 games, dating back to last season.

Ohio Northern will return to action on Saturday, when it travels to take on Muskingum in a OAC double header at 1 pm.