Baseball gets rain-shortened win over Franklin & Marshall

By Wes Mayberry

AUBURNDALE, Fla. — Storms brought an early end to the Ohio Northern baseball team's doubleheader with Franklin & Marshall (Pa.) in the RussMatt Invitational on Saturday at Lake Myrtle Park. The Polar Bears won the opening game 3-1 in five innings, and the second game was canceled due to inclement weather.

ONU improves to 2-5 overall on the season while the Diplomats fall to 3-3.

The Polar Bears opened the scoring with a 3-run first inning after sophomore starting pitcher Noah Truax (Lewis Center/Bishop Watterson) had a 1-2-3 top of the frame with a pair of strikeouts.

Freshman Joey Kennedy (Sterling Heights, Mich./Foley Catholic) led off the bottom of the first inning with a single, and sophomore Logan Stevens (Plain City/Jonathan Alder) followed with a walk.

Kennedy and Stevens then scored on a double from senior Corey McMann (Flower Mound, Tex./Liberty Christian), who advanced to third on the throw home.

Junior Nate Webb (Bath, Ind., Union County) followed with an RBI groundout to give ONU a 3-0 lead.

The score remained the same until the top of the fifth inning when the Diplomats put runners on first and third via a catcher's interference and a single.

Franklin & Marshall proceeded to score its lone run of the game on a fielder's choice that brought the runner home from third.

Truax induced a flyout from the next better to end the inning, giving way to the rain.

Senior Chayten Overholt (Delphos/Lincolnview) led ONU with two hits, including a triple, and McMann finished with a team-high two RBIs.

Truax recorded the win on the mound, allowing four hits, one walk and one unearned run while striking out six over five innings.

The Polar Bears are scheduled to close out their spring break trip Sunday with a game against Mitchell (Conn.) at 9 a.m.