On Sunday (April 27) at Tomassi Stadium and Donges Field at the Archer Ballpark Complex, the No. RV Ashland University baseball team split with No. RV Northwood – winning 8-0 and losing 7-5 – as the Eagles and Timberwolves remain tied atop the Great Midwest Athletic Conference's North Division.
Ashland is 33-13 overall and 22-6 in the league, and the T'Wolves are 28-17, 22-6.
The opener began with an Eagle run in the bottom of the first inning following a Northwood error – RBI to junior first baseman
Sam Witt. Ashland made it a 5-0 game through two on a run-scoring single from junior second baseman
Gavin Dobbels, an RBI groundout off the bat of junior left fielder
Billy Howard, and RBI hits from redshirt freshman right fielder
Sean Krueckeberg and graduate designated hitter
Max Caron.
Howard's RBI single in the fourth extended the AU lead to 6-0, then senior catcher
Ben Peltz's RBI single in the fifth moved it to 7-0. Caron scored on a wild pitch in the sixth for the game's final margin.
Sunday's second game opened with a Northwood run in the top of the second, but, in the bottom of the frame, Dobbels came through with a two-run single to put AU on top.
Junior shortstop
Collin Overholt launched his team-leading 10
th home run of the season, a two-run shot, in the fifth for a 4-1 AU lead. It is his fifth round-tripper over the last six games, and he is the first Eagle with double-digit HRs in a season since
Micah Allen (13) in 2022.
Northwood moved a run closer in the sixth to make the score 4-2, then scored another in the seventh to close to within a tally. Senior first baseman
Cam Scott, however, picked up an RBI on a fielder's choice in the bottom of the seventh to push the Eagle lead back to two runs at 5-3.
The Timberwolves scored four times in the ninth to regain the lead at 7-5 and win Game 4 of the series.
…AND THE REST OF THE STORY
- Dobbels went 3-for-3 with a stolen base, two runs scored and an RBI in Game 1, and Howard drove in two runs.
- Graduate left-hander Marshall Leishman (6-3) threw six shutout innings in the opener, striking out five and allowing three hits and three walks.
- In Game 2, Scott and Overholt each drove in two runs, and Scott and Dobbels each had two hits.
- Senior righty Chase Carter (3-5) yielded four runs, three hits and a walk and struck out two in 1 2/3 frames.
- Ashland head coach John Schaly now has 1,347 career wins, one shy of tying Oklahoma Baptist's Bobby Cox for 20th on the NCAA all-time all-levels wins list.
UP NEXT
The last four games of the regular season on Friday and Saturday (May 2-3) at Hillsdale.
