Wilmington sweeps Baseball in OAC slugfests in Chillicothe

By Tim Glon

CHILLICOTHE -- Wilmington used the big inning to sweep Ohio Northern 12-3 and 14-13 in an Ohio Athletic Conference baseball doubleheader on Wednesday at Veterans Memorial Stadium.

The game was moved to the all-turf field in Chillicothe from Wilmington due to poor field conditions at WC's field.

The Polar Bears fall to 11-12 overall and 2-4 in OAC play, while the Quakers improve to 5-13, 2-6.

Matt Hampshire led the Polar Bear offense, going 6 for 11 with a home run, a triple, a double and four RBI in the two games.

Ohio Northern collected 28 hits on the day, but WC topped that with 34 in the two games.

In the opening game, Northern got on the board in the top of the second frame when Matt Rader walked and scored on a single by Adam Yunker.

ONU made it 2-0 in the top of the third when Brett Katana walked, stole second and scored on a triple by Matt Hampshire.

WC plated six runs in the home half of the fourth. A 2-run home run by Bruce Dunlap started the rally and tied the game at 2-2 and a 3-run home run by Jason Iles capped the rally to make it 6-2.

An RBI single by Rader scored Drew Robinson in the top of the fifth to bring Northern within 6-3.

But the Quakers put the game away by batting around again in the fifth, scoring five runs, to take an 11-3 lead.

In Game 2, Northern took advantage to three Quaker errors in the top of the second to take a 3-1 advantage.

Matt Hampshire led off the frame with a double and scored on a single by Loren Fleischman to tie the game at 1-1. Fleischman later scored on a ground ball by Aaron Lee and Matt Rader scored on a throwing error on the WC third baseman on Lee's ground ball.

Northern extended its lead to 4-2 in the top of the fourth when Aaron Lee led off with a sharp single to right and later scored on a sacrifice fly by Yunker.

After WC scored four times in the fifth, ONU manufactured a run in the top of the sixth.

Matt Rader led off the inning with a bunt single, stole second, took third on a delayed steal and scored on a sacrifice fly by Lee to pull the Polar Bears to within 6-5.

Wilmington scored five in the bottom of the 6th to extend its lead to 11-5, but Northern rallied for four in the top of the seventh.

Katana started the inning with a double to deep center and Hampshire followed that with a home run to center to make it 11-7.

Loren Fleischman made it 11-8 when he scored on the back end of a double steal and rader scored on a single by Lee to make it 11-9.

Northern took the lead in the top of the eighth with three unearned runs. Mark Hayes led off the inning by reaching on a fielding error by the Quaker third baseman and later scored on a sca fly by Hampshire.

A two-out, two-run single by Lee scored Katana and Fleischman with the tying and go-ahead runs for Northern, making it 12-11 Polar Bears.

ONU added an insurance run in the top of the ninth when Stoll singled, advanced to second on a sac bunt by Yunker and scored on a single by Hayes to go up 13-11.

But the Quakers would come out victorius with three runs in the bottom of the ninth on a 1-out home run by Bruce Dunlap, an RBI double by Clint Roush and an infield single by Tyler Ledford.

The Polar Bears will return to action Saturday in OAC action with two games at John Carroll.