No. 25-ranked Baseball earns split with Otterbein after winning the nightcap 7-5 Sunday at Wander Field

By Tim Glon

ADA -- The No. 25-ranked Ohio Northern baseball team earned a split of an Ohio Athletic Conference double header with Otterbein on Sunday afternoon at Wander Field.

The Polar Bears (20-5 overall, 7-3 OAC) won the nightcap 7-5 after the Cardinals (16-8, 5-5) won the opener 10-3.

Freshman Dan McMullen went 2-for-4 with an RBI in each of the games to lead the ONU offense.

In Game 2, senior Dan Belliveau walked, stole second and scored on a double by freshman Jordan Bostater in the second frame to tie the game at 1-1.

Back-to-back sac flies by junior Nick Eltzroth and Bostater scored McMullen and Belliveau to put the Polar Bears ahead 3-1 in the fourth.

OU scored three times in the top of the seventh to take a 5-3 lead, but the Polar Bears answered in the bottom half of the inning.

Senior Jack LaMarca, freshman Joe Abeska and McMullen had three consecutive 2-out singles to put Ohio Northern back on top.

In the bottom of the eighth, Bostater was hit by a pitch with one out to start a rally. 

Senior pinch-runner Derek Lenardos then stole second and went to third when the throw went into center field.

Freshman Dan Barna then singled home Lenardos with a bloop single over the drawn-in infield to make it a 7-5 lead.

Junior Alex Crabtree went 8-plus innings to earn the win and improve to 4-0 on the season and junior Reed Allen got the final two outs in the ninth inning to earn his first save of the year.

Each team had eight hits in the game, but ONU left 10 runners on base to just four for the Cardinals.

OU scored twice in the top of the first and built a 10-1 lead.

The Polar Bears will return to action Tuesday with an OAC double header at No. 16-ranked Baldwin Wallace.