A Cory Martin grand slam highlights Baseball's 13-5 and 18-6 wins against Goshen (Ind.)

By: Monique Bowman

ADA — A Cory Martin (Akron/Ellet) grand slam was one of the highlights in the Ohio Northern baseball team's 13-5 and 18-6 wins over Goshen College (Ind.), Tuesday afternoon at Wander field.

Northern improves to 12-4 overall while the Maple Leafs fall to 6-21.

The Polar Bears struck first with two run  in the bottom of the first. With the bases loaded and a 3-2 pitch count, junior Matt Hampshire (Lima/Elida) walked and brought in Adam Yunker (Holland/Toledo Christian).

Later in the inning, freshman Josh Murphy (Kettering/Fairmont) popped out to centerfield to bring in Brian Thomas (Cross Plains, Ind./South Ripley) from third base.

The Maple Leafs put one run up when Luke Hucker singled to left field to score Taylor Jergens from second.

Martin's homer with the bases loaded was in the third, scoring four of the six Polar Bear runs of the inning. Also scoring in the inning was Mike Hoelzel (Canfield) on a Thomas single and Adam Yunker on a Hampshire single hit.

ONU would go on to score five more runs to Goshen's four to claim the 13-5 win in game one.

Junior Ryan Damman (Fremont/Ross) picked up his first win of the season, while Moises Ramirez falls to 0-2.

In game two, the Maple Leafs came out the game in a major way to score four runs in the first. But Northern would respond at its first turn up with seven runs.

Eleven more runs would solidify the 18-6 win, thought the Maple Leafs would try to put some runs on the board at the top of the seventh to no avail.

Sophomore Craig Leopold (Canton/Glen Oak) earned the win, tallying three strikeouts, and holds a 3-1 record on the mound.

Three Polar Bears hit .667 against Goshen in the doubleheader, including Martin who went 2 for 3 at the plate with six RBIs, two runs and his homerun.

Senior Erik Stegman (Parma/Parma Senior) who went 4 for 6 with a double, one run and three RBIs, while Murphy went 2 for 3 with two RBIs and four runs scored.

"Our players came out ready to play; they swung the bats really well and put up some runs and felt like we were in control all day," head coach Justin Bergman said. "It was good to get a lot of players in and seeing game time and get these wins before heading into Saturday."

Ohio Northern now prepares to start conference competition as it hosts OAC foe Capital in a doubleheader Saturday at 1 p.m.