Baseball drops tight 10-9 decision at Ohio Wesleyan

By Caleb Scott

DELAWARE — The Ohio Northern baseball team's comeback against Ohio Wesleyan came up short as it dropped a hard-fought 10-9 decision on Thursday afternoon at Littick Field.

The Polar Bears fall to 18-7 overall, while the Battling Bishops improve to 9-12.

Six Polar Bears recorded two hits in the victory as the team recorded 14 hits in the contest.

OWU struck first in the bottom half of the first inning, scoring the first run of the game. Northern would answer with two runs over the next two innings to take a 2-1 lead.

In the top of the second inning, senior Dan Barna (Cranberry Township, Pa./Seneca Valley) knocked sophomore Phil Buckingham (Wayne/Elmwood) home with an RBI double.

ONU added another run in the top of the third inning as a single from senior Hayden Shenefield (Powell/Worthingon Kilbourne) plated junior Luke Klinehoffer (Zanesfield/John Glenn) to give ONU the 2-1 lead.

Ohio Wesleyan scored four runs in the bottom of the fourth to take a 5-2 lead, before the Polar Bear offense exploded for six runs in the top of the sixth inning.

After OWU got two quick outs in that inning, the ONU offense went to work as senior Brandon Kasberg (Mentor), junior Caleb Thomas (Strongsville), freshman Will Davis (Upper Arlington/Bishop Watterson) and Klinehoffer all recorded hits to give Northern an 8-5 advantage.

The Battling Bishops added four runs in the bottom of the sixth inning before ONU knotted the game at 9-all in the top of the seventh as Barna hit a double to score a run.

OWU would score what would prove to be the game-winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning as it went on to win the contest 10-9.

The Polar Bears will be back in action on Friday afternoon with a twinbill against John Carroll at Wander Field with game one beginning at 1 p.m.