Needing to rally after two losses on Sunday (April 23), Ashland University's baseball team did just that on Monday (April 24), defeating Northwood 6-0 and 5-4 to end a key Great Midwest Athletic Conference four-game set at Tomassi Stadium and Donges Field at the Archer Ballpark Complex.
The Eagles move back to two games out of first place in the Great Midwest's North Division with eight league games to play at 28-13, 18-6, and the first-place Timberwolves are 29-14, 20-4.
The Eagles went ahead early in Game 1, scoring in the bottom of the first on an RBI double from sophomore first baseman
Sam Witt and a run-scoring double from sophomore catcher
Ben Peltz. Ashland kept the scoring going in the second, making it a 5-0 game on an RBI single from junior second baseman
Devin Hukill, a Northwood fielding error and an RBI groundout from sophomore center fielder
Cam Miller.
Sophomore shortstop
Jeremiah Cangelosi scored on a wild pitch in the fifth for a 6-0 AU advantage.
Yet another sophomore, right-hander
Cam Scott, twirled a complete-game five-hit shutout to move to 5-3 on the season. Scott struck out two and walked three.
In Game 2, the Timberwolves scored first in the top of the second, but Ashland responded in the bottom of the frame with two runs on a bases-loaded walk from redshirt freshman
Chris Franks and a run coming home on a double play
.
Northwood re-tied the game in the third, then re-took the lead in the fourth at 3-2. Redshirt freshman
Collin Overholt got the lead back for Ashland with a two-run homer in the fifth. In the seventh, the Timberwolves once again knotted the game, this time at 4.
Then, in the bottom of the ninth, with the bases loaded and two outs, Miller came home from third on a wild pitch to give the Eagles the Monday sweep.
NOTABLES
- In Game 1, Franks and Overholt were 2-for-3 with a run scored and a double.
- The nightcap saw fifth-year left fielder Seth Schroeder (2-for-5), Cangelosi (2-for-4, run scored) and Overholt (2-for-4, homer, run scored, two RBIs) each get two of AU's 10 hits.
- Junior righty Zac Common (6-1) pitched a scoreless ninth inning for the relief victory.
QUOTABLES
- "Our guys are resilient," said Ashland head coach John Schaly. "I knew they would bounce back. Our bullpen did good. That's a good ball club. Winning two against them, two good wins.
- Schaly said of Scott, "He really threw well, mixed his pitches, threw strikes. Played great defense behind him. It was a well-played game."
- "That was a lot of fun," Miller said of scoring the sweep-clinching run. "Me and coach were talking about it for like three pitches in a row, he's like, 'You see it in the dirt, you're going.' Yesterday was tough, but I love this team. We have a great group of guys. It feels really good to come out and do it."
- Said Scott, "It felt good. Runs scored helped, too. I feel like this year, I have been doing pretty well pitching, so it's good to help the team out."
UP NEXT
Ashland will play its fifth game in three days at home on Tuesday (April 25) at 3 p.m. vs. Slippery Rock (18-21).
