Baseball News

Brian Hill

By Tim Glon

| 2009 Schedule |

ADA — The Ohio Northern baseball team will open its 2009 schedule March 1-7 during its annual Spring Break trip to Winter Haven, Fla.

The Polar Bears expect to play seven games in Winter Haven and will play four games at the Tri-State Classic at Franklin, Ind., March 14-15.

Northern's home opener is slated for March 19 in a double header against Cedarville at Wander Field.

Mark Sankovich

Ohio Northern Senior Mark Sankovich earned Division III Rawlings/American Baseball Coaches Associtation All-Mid East honors.

This is the first All-Region award for Sankovich as he took home Second Team honors. He also garned First Team All-Ohio Athletic Conference honors for the first time this season as well.

Drew Robinson

ADA - Ohio Northern first baseman Drew Robinson (Columbus/St. Charles) earned Academic All-Ohio Athletic Conference honors in baseball for the 2008 season as voted upon by the conference's ten faculty representatives.

This is the first academic award for Robinson, who also earned Honorable Mention All-OAC honors this season.

He ended the season as hot as any hitter in the OAC. He collected a hit in 18 of his final 20 games, including 11 multi-hit games during that stretch.

Wieland, Sankovich, Robinson

The Ohio Northern senior pitching duo of Mark Sankovich and Drew Wieland along with sophomore first baseman Drew Robinson earned All-Ohio Athletic Conference honors in baseball for the 2008 season as voted upon by the ten conference head coaches.

Sankovich earned First Team honors while Wieland took Second Team and Robinson earned Honorable Mention honors. These were the first All-Conference honors for all three players.

Sophomore Brett Katana went 6-for-7 with four RBI to lead the Ohio Northern baseball team in a double header split at Marietta, Sunday afternoon in the Polar Bears season finale. 

Northern (18-22, 9-9 OAC) collected a season-high 20 hits and scored six times in the final two innings to break a 6-6 tie and win game two 12-7. Marietta (21-18-13-5 OAC) won the opener 6-3.

Katana was a perfect 5-for-5 with a double, triple and four RBI in game two. He was 1-for-2 with a run scored in the first game.

WOOSTER — Drew Robinson blasted his team-leading sixth home run of the season as the Ohio Northern baseball team wrapped up its non-conference schedule with a 7-4 loss at No. 11 Wooster Thursday afternoon at Murray Field.

The Polar Bears see their three-game win streak end and fall to 17-21, while the Scots improve to 33-7.

Brett Katana put the Polar Bears up 1-0 in the top of the third when he drilled a two-out single to score Brandon Hubbard, who led off the frame with a double down the left field line.

DEFIANCE — Junior Brian Hill pitched eight strong innings as the Ohio Northern men’s baseball team was able to withstand a late Defiance push to win 6-5 at Craig Rutter Field.

The Polar Bears improved to 17-20, while the Yellow Jackets dropped to 5-25.

Hill didn’t give up an earned run until the ninth inning and walked only one batter, while tallying five strikeouts.

Offensively, ONU jumped out to a 5-0 lead as batters belted out six extra-base hits.

Sophomore Brandon Aselage and freshman Chris Sobieray each had two hits.

ADA — Senior starting pitchers Mark Sankovich and Drew Wieland were dazzling in the final home games of their careers on Saturday as the Ohio Northern baseball team swept Muskingum 8-0, 6-2 on Senior Day at Wander Field.

Sankovich, Wieland and senior relief pitcher Nick Simoff were honored before the game.

With the sweep, the Polar Bears improved to 16-20 overall and 8-8 in the Ohio Athletic Conference.

The eight conference wins are the most ONU has had since 2002.

Muskingum dropped to 16-17 overall and 4-12 in the OAC.

WESTERVILLE — Sophomore second baseman Greg Gibbons went 4-for-5 on the day at the plate, but Otterbein gained a doubleheader sweep over the Ohio Northern baseball team on Wednesday at Fishbaugh Field.

The Cardinals used three big innings to win Game 1, 11-6, while a five-run explosion in the seventh propelled the host team to a 5-3 victory in Game 2.

ONU dropped to 14-20 overall and 6-8 in the Ohio Athletic Conference with the losses, while Otterbein improved to 20-11 overall and 9-5 in the OAC.

COLUMBUS — Senior starting pitchers Mark Sankovich and Drew Wieland each had dominating performances on the mound to lead the Ohio Northern baseball team to a sweep of Capital on Monday at Clowson Field.

Sankovich gave up no earned runs en route to pitching his seventh complete game of the season as ONU won Game 1, 7-2.

Wieland also didn’t give up an earned run in eight innings of work as ONU defeated Capital, 7-1, in Game 2.

The wins improved ONU to 14-18 overall and 6-6 in the Ohio Athletic Conference, while the Crusaders dropped to 9-21 overall and 2-12 in the OAC.