Baseball splits doubleheader with Mount Union to open up OAC play 1-1

By Steve Green

ALLIANCE - Sophomore Brett Katana went 4-5 with three runs and one RBI to lead Ohio Northern to an 11-7 baseball victory over Mount Union in the second game of a doubleheader in Alliance on Saturday. Mt. Union won the opener 6-0.

With the split, the Polar Bears improve to 9-8 overall and 1-1 in Ohio Athletic Conference play while the Purple Raiders improve to 12-3 overall and 3-1 in OAC play.

The four hits on the day give Katana 101 for his career and make him the 47th member of Ohio Northern's 100-Hit Club. He currently sits in a tie for 44th on ONU's all-time hit list.

In the second game, the Polar Bears were able to score 11 runs on 16 hits, including three runs in the first inning. Matt Hampshire started the scoring with a two-out, two-RBI double that scored Katana and second baseman Greg Gibbons. Hampshire then scored on an Erik Stegman RBI single.

Northern was able to drive in five runs with two outs. Katana, Hampshire (2), and Stegman accounted for four of those five, with third basemen Mike Hoelzel driving in the other.

Sophomore Justin Miller pitched a solid 8.2 innings to earn his second win of the season. He gave up only three earned runs while striking out five. Grant Sevek was the lone Purple Raider able to get more than one hit off Miller. Freshman Cody Fisher closed the game out in the ninth.

Northern dropped the first game of the doubleheader 6-0, as Mount Union pitcher Paul Mariotti threw a two-hit complete game.

The Purple Raiders scored all six of their runs in the first two innings as Northern pitcher Brian Hill gave up six earned runs.

Hill pitched well after that, striking out four and not letting any more runs score, but Mariotti held the ONU bats at bay. Loren Fleischman and Erik Stegman provided Northern's only hits in the fifth and seventh innings, respectively.

The Polar Bears return to action on Monday at 1 pm as they take on St. Francis (Ind.) at Wander Field.