Junior Brady Guest (Convoy/Crestview) smashed a two-run home run to cap a three-run fifth inning Sunday afternoon, propelling Ohio Northern past third-seeded Baldwin Wallace 4-2 in game five of the Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament at Donna J. Newberry Field.
With the victory, the Polar Bears improve to 23-18 overall on the season. In addition, ONU books a spot in the OAC Tournament championship series with fourth-seeded Otterbein this afternoon, scheduled for 2:30 p.m. An "if necessary" game seven is slated for 4:30 p.m. as Northern must defeat the Cardinals twice to repeat as OAC Champions.
The Yellow Jackets drop to 33-10 overall with the loss.
The game was suspended Saturday afternoon with one out in the top of the fourth inning and resumed Sunday at 1 p.m.
On Saturday, Northern bolted out to an early 1-0 lead in the first inning.
Following a leadoff walk from freshman Rachel Hish (Gainesville, Va./Patriot) and a BW fielding miscue, junior Gabby Stewart (Union, Ky./St. Henry) advanced Hish to third with a long fly ball to center field. The Yellow Jackets mishandled a fly ball in right field on the following play, allowing Hish to plate the opening run.
The home side leveled the score after the Yellow Jackets' strung together three consecutive hits to kick off the second inning, including an RBI double from senior Abbie Thompson. In the following at-bat, classmate Alexis Boledovic produced an RBI ground out to put BW in front 2-1.
From there, the two offenses were held scoreless until play was suspended in the fourth inning. The Polar Bears were batting with a runner at first base and one out when the delay was announced.
The Polar Bears gathered all the momentum in the fifth inning after hanging three runs on the board. Senior Hailee Loughman (Brookville) laced a ball up the middle to even the scoreline, and Guest drilled a two-run home run over the left field fence, her second blast of the weekend, for a 4-2 advantage.
Despite the loss, Baldwin Wallace out-hit the Polar Bears 9-6 in the contest. However, ONU was able to capitalize on three Yellow Jacket miscues for its four scores.
Loughman led the offense with an impressive three-for-four showing at the plate with an RBI. Meanwhile, Guest led ONU with a team-high two RBI via the long ball.
With her three hits in the contest, Loughman now ranks 15th all-time in program history with 143 career hits.
In the circle, senior Kaitlin Surdej tossed a solid seven innings. She allowed just two earned runs for her 15th victory this season.
WOMEN'S TENNIS
The Ohio Northern women's tennis team fell 5-1 to John Carroll in the finals of the Ohio Athletic Conference Women's Tennis Tournament on Saturday evening indoors at the South Regency Tennis Club.
The third-seeded Polar Bears end their season with a 20-7 overall record.
Top-seeded John Carroll improves to 15-5 and earns the league's automatic bid to the NCAA III Tournament.
ONU won at No. 2 doubles as senior Ashley Ochsenhirt (Birmingham, Ala./Briarwood Christian) and junior Mackenzie Wills (Ada) won 8-6 as JCU led 2-1 after doubles play.
With her doubles victory, Wills finishes the season with a 50-9 overall record, tying the ONU single-season record of 50 wins set by Meghan Letizia in 2013.
The Blue Streaks closed out the match with victories at No. 1, 3 and 6 singles.
ONU has now advanced to the OAC Tournament finals in seven of the past eight seasons and 16 times in the 18-year history of the event.
MEN'S TENNIS
Third-seeded Ohio Northern rallied from a 4-1 deficit, but top-seeded John Carroll held on for a 5-4 in the finals of the 2019 Ohio Athletic Conference Men's Tennis Tournament on Saturday afternoon at the Lindner Family Tennis Center and the South Regency Tennis Club.
The Polar Bears end their season at 14-9 overall, while the Blue Streaks (9-9) receive the league's automatic bid to the NCAA III Championships.
Junior Connor Christian (Gallipolis/Gallia Academy) and freshman Andrew Cochran (Wooster) got the Polar Bears off to a 1-0 lead with an 8-3 victory at No. 3 doubles.
John Carroll then won on courts one and three and led 2-1 after doubles play.
The rains came just as the singles matches started, forcing a 1 hour, 18-minute delay and moving play inside to the South Regency Tennis Club in Miamisburg.
JCU grabbed the momentum out of the rain delay and increased its lead to 4-1 with victories at Nos. 5 and 3 singles.
Freshman Noah Elliott (Hilliard/Davidson) rallied for a 0-6, 6-2, 6-4 victory at No. 2 singles to get ONU within 4-2.
Cochran then won 7-5, 2-6, 6-3 at No. 6 singles to make it 4-3.
Sophomore Vinh Thai (Galloway/St. Charles) tied the match at 4-all with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 victory at No. 1 singles.
The Blue Streaks then posted a 3-6, 6-2, 6-1 win at No. 4 singles to clinch the match.
"I'm very proud of the way we battled," ONU head coach Mike Bonnell said. "We did not handle the transition from indoors to outdoors well and got behind at the beginning of singles play. But we kept playing and nearly came all the way back. This was our first trip to the OAC Tournament finals for our program since 2013 and I am optimistic that there will be more of these opportunities in our future."\
MEN'S LACROSSE
In its first-ever Ohio Athletic Conference championship game appearance, the No. 4-seeded Ohio Northern men's lacrosse team fell 13-5 to No. 3-seeded John Carroll on Saturday afternoon at Don Shula Stadium in University Heights.
With the loss, the Polar Bears drop to 13-5 overall in the 2019 campaign. The Blue Streaks improve to 12-6 overall and earn the OAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III National Tournament, which begins next week.
JCU jumped out to an early 3-0 lead after a tightly-contested first quarter, featuring just seven combined shots between the two programs. The Blue Streaks continued to expand their lead in the second quarter, stretching their advantage to 6-0 before the intermission.
Meanwhile, the Polar Bears were held to just six shots in the opening half.
In the second half, it took senior Max Weese (Hilliard/Hilliard Darby) just 17 seconds to put the Polar Bears on the board with a man-up goal. Classmate Nicholas Groves (Fishers, Ind./Bishop Chatard) added another quick goal with 13:33 left in the third period, bringing the score to 6-2.
Following two Blue Streak goals, sophomore Joe O'Connell (Fishers, Ind.) answered with the Polar Bears' second man-up goal at the 6:17 mark in the third period, which made the score 8-3 headed into the final 15 minutes.
Seniors Anthony Pavone (Bainbridge/Kenston) and Peter Hardt (Bethpage, N.Y.) added one goal each in the fourth quarter, but the Blue Streaks posted five scores of their own to capture their fourth OAC Tournament championship title all-time.
Pavone, Weese, O'Connell, and Groves each recorded a goal and an assist to pace the Polar Bear offense.
In net, senior Alex Pizarro (Boonsboro, Md.) posted 13 saves on 26 total shots faced for a 50% save rate.
Juniors Chris DiMarco (Worthington/Thomas Worthington) and Logan Krogman (Aurora, Ill./Waubonsie Valley) guided the visitors with a team-high three ground balls each.
Ohio Northern reached the OAC Tournament Finals for the first time in program history after defeating top-seeded Capital 10-9 Tuesday evening.
SOFTBALL
The second-seeded Ohio Northern softball program needed just two runs in the first inning off a Hailee Loughman (Brookville) single and an Abby Elliott (Loveland/Ursuline) double to claim a 2-1 victory over top-seeded Muskingum and advance to game five of the 2019 Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament at Donna J. Newberry Field on Saturday.
With the victory, the Polar Bears improve to 22-18 overall on the season. More importantly, ONU stays alive in the OAC Tournament, booking a matchup with third-seeded Baldwin Wallace in game five.
In addition, the victory marks the 100th career coaching win for third-year head coach Jackie Price. She has won 79 games in three seasons at her alma mater after recording 21 wins in two seasons at Hiram.
The Muskies fell to 31-11 on the season and were the first team eliminated from this year's tournament with the loss.
Ohio Northern jumped out to an early 2-0 lead after the first inning in Saturday's elimination game. Loughman smashed an RBI single off the right field fence to kick off the scoring before Elliott tacked on the second run with an RBI double down the right field line.
Muskingum pitcher Rachel Eberling answered in the second inning with a solo home run over the center field wall, making the deficit just 2-1.
From there, both sides combined for just four total hits over the final five innings.
In game four, freshman Rachel Hish (Gainesville, Va./Patriot) and junior Gabby Stewart (Union, Ky./St. Henry) each produced two hits to help guide the offense.
Senior pitcher Kaitlin Surdej (Lancaster, N.Y./Central) was called upon to pitch game four after tossing game one against Baldwin Wallace. She came through with an impressive seven-inning outing, scattering two hits and one earned run with four strikeouts.
The Polar Bears out-hit the Muskies 7-2 overall in Saturday's meeting.
Game five was suspended until 11 a.m. on Sunday morning. The game will resume play with one out in the home half of the fourth inning and Baldwin Wallace holding a 2-1 lead. The championship game will be played at 12:30 p.m. with an "if necessary" game scheduled for 2:30 p.m.
MEN'S GOLF
Ohio Northern is in eighth place after the first day of the 2019 Ohio Athletic Conference Men's Golf Championships on Friday at River Greens Golf Course.
Senior Joshua Turich (Centerville) is tied for 19th out of 45 golfers after 27 holes of play with a 75-38—113 on the par-72, 6672-yard course to lead the Polar Bears (18-40-1 overall).
The top 14 golfers and ties at the end of the 72-hole tournament earn All-Conference accolades and Turich is just two shots out of that position with 45 holes yet to play.
Freshman Nolan Kimberly (Zanesville) is tied for 25th with a 79-37—116, senior Nick Anderson (Mason) and senior Ryan Tatman (West Chester/Lakota East) are tied for 33rd with 77-41—182 is and freshman Jared Hernandez (Van Wert) is 42nd with an 82-41—123.
Ohio Northern is eighth out of nine teams with 465 strokes.
Otterbein leads the team standings with a 5-under par 284-143—427 and holds a 17-shot lead over Baldwin Wallace and John Carroll, who stand at 12-over par 444.
Sam Marty of Otterbein leads the individual standings with a 4-under par 69-35—104.
The tournament will continue at 9 am on Saturday with 27 more holes and the final round will be at 11 am on Sunday and will consist of 18 holes.
Team Standings
1. Otterbein 284-143—427, 2. Baldwin Wallace 306-138—444, t2. John Carroll 299-345—444, 4. Heidelberg 299-151—450, t5. Muskingum 305-150—455, t5. Marietta 309-146—455, 7. Mount Union 304-154—458, 8. Ohio Northern 308-157—465, 9. Capital 316-157—473.
Top 14 Individual Results (All-OAC)
1. Sam Marty (Ott) 69-35—104, 2. Andrew Sikorski (Berg) 73-33—106, 3. Johnny Peck (Ott) 72-36–108, t4. Kurt Fortman (Ott) 70-39—109, t4. Jimmy Clark (BW) 73-36—109, t4. Spencer Jordan (Ott) 73-36—109, t4. Tyler Dunfee (Ott) 73-36—109, t8. Brenton Franks (Muck) 72-38—110, t8. Hunter Miller (BW) 75-35—110, t8. Nolan Laughlin (JCU) 76-34—110, t11. Sean O'Grady (JCU) 75-36—111, t11. Logan Holbrook (Cap) 73-38—111, t11. Luke engle (MtU) 75-36—111, t11. Matt Eddins (MtU) 75-36—111.
Ohio Northern Individual Results
t19. Joshua Turich 75-38—113, t25. Nolan Kimberly 79-37—116, t33. Nick Anderson 77-41—118, t33. Ryan Tatman 77-41—118, 42. Jared Hernandez 82-41—123.
WOMEN'S TENNIS
Ohio Northern went 4-0 in singles play to rally from a 2-1 deficit and post a 5-2 victory over Otterbein in the semifinals of the Ohio Athletic Conference Women's Tennis Tournament on Friday evening indoors at the South Regency Tennis Club.
The third-seeded Polar Bears (20-6 overall) will face top-seeded John Carroll on Saturday at 2 pm at the Lindner Tennis Center in Mason.
The second-seeded Cardinals end their season at 17-4.
OU won two of the three doubles courts as senior senior Ashley Ochsenhirt (Birmingham, Ala./Briarwood Christian) and junior Mackenzie Wills (Ada) won 8-4 at No. 2 doubles for ONU's tally.
Ochsenhirt then won 6-0, 6-3 at No. 1 singles to even the match at 2-all.
Junior Kaleigh Cummins (Springfield/Northeastern) won 6-4, 6-0 at No. 3 singles to put ONU ahead 3-2.
Freshman Olivia Schrager (Dayton/Miami Valley) rallied for a 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory at No. 2 singles to put the Polar Bears up 4-2.
Junior Katie Curry (Oxford/Talawanda) then won 6-1, 6-2 at No. 5 singles to complete the comeback.
Wills was ahead 6-3, 7-5, 1-0 at No. 4 singles and freshman and Abigail Staskiewicz (Mars, Pa./Oakland Catholic) was winning 6-3, 5-4 at No. 6 singles when the match was called.
ONU has now advanced to the OAC Tournament finals in seven of the past eight seasons and 16 times in the 18-year history of the event
JCU defeated fourth-seeded Mount Union 5-0 in the other semifinal on Friday night.
