Freshmen Ethan Spears, Sam Harrison lead Baseball to 13-3 rout of Oberlin

By Wes Mayberry

OBERLIN — Freshmen Ethan Spears (Oregon/Clay) and Sam Harrison (Perrysburg/St. Francis de Sales) combined for six hits and seven RBIs on Monday to lead the Ohio Northern baseball team to a 13-3 win over Oberlin at Dill Field.

The Polar Bears improve to 11-10 overall and have won six of their past seven games. The loss drops the Yeomen to 5-11.

Spears spearheaded an Ohio Northern offense that notched 11 hits in the game, as he finished with a career-high three hits and five RBIs.

He had a two-run home run in the sixth inning, an RBI triple in the seventh and a two-run inside-the-park homer in the ninth.

Harrison added a trio of singles, including RBI hits in the second and seventh frames.

Senior Corey McMann (Flower Mound, Tex./Liberty Christian) chipped in an extra-base hit with a double and finished with two RBIs.

The pitching combination of sophomore Hayden Heche (Fort Wayne, Ind./Northrop) and junior Austin Mathews (Washington Court House/Miami Trace) held the Yeomen to one run on five hits and two walks over the first seven innings.

Freshman Jack Ballas (Strongsville) pitched the final two frames.

The Polar Bears led 2-1 after the first inning and added two more runs in the second.

A sacrifice fly from McMann put ONU up 5-1 in the top of the fifth, and the offense continued pouring it on down the stretch.

Spears' homer to left field was part of a three-run sixth inning.

The Polar Bears added three more runs in the seventh via a triple from Spears, double from senior Sam Zeleznik (Hinckley/Highland) and single from Harrison, making the score 11-1.

The Yeomen scored their final two runs in the bottom of the eighth, and Northern capped the scoring with Spears' inside-the-park homer that also brought home senior Chayten Overholt (Delphos/Lincolnview) in the ninth.

The Polar Bears return to action on Wednesday for a non-conference game at Bluffton.