Senior Jack LaMarca hits for the cycle, leads Baseball to 17-3 victory over Northland (Wis.)

By Tim Glon

FT. MYERS, Fla. -- Senior Jack LaMarca became the first Ohio Northern baseball player to hit for the cycle in at least a generation, leading the Polar Bears to a 17-3 victory over Northland (Wis.) Monday afternoon at Terry Park.

LaMarca finished the day 4-for-4 with 7 RBI. 

After a sac fly in the first, LaMarca doubled in the third, singled in the fifth, tripled in the sixth and finished the cycle in emphatic fashion with a grand slam home run in the seventh.

No other Ohio Northern player has been documented as hitting for the cycle in the 112-year history of the program and it has not been done in at least the past two decades.

"I saw the ball well and hit it hard today," LaMarca said. "I'm just really enjoying the warm weather down here. Our JV team got us fired up this morning (a 22-1 win) and we wanted to come out and get some offense, too."

The Polar Bears (2-1 overall) pounded out 14 hits and scored in six of its eight at-bats.

Junior Alex Crabtree allowed just three hits and two unearned runs and struck out seven in 6.0 innings to earn his first victory of the season.

Junior Nick Eltzroth went 3-for-3 with 3 RBI and senior Dan Belliveau and junior Clay Small each had two hits for ONU.

"Our guys played well today," ONU head coach Gene Stechschulte said. "We hit the ball hard and had a big offensive day. I'm veryy happy for Jack (LaMarca) and Alex (Crabtree) threw well."

The Lumberjacks fall to 0-2.

Ohio Northern will take Tuesday off and return to action with a 9 am contest with Finlandia (Wis.) at 9 am at Terry  Park