ADA, Ohio – The Capital University baseball team concluded their busy, busy week of OAC play with a doubleheader split at Ohio Northern University on Saturday afternoon.
The Comets, who have already played doubleheaders with Muskingum and Wilmington earlier this week, won game one 7-2, before turning around to drop game two 12-5.
Leading the way at the plate for Capital were a multitude of players who collected three hits each over the two games. As a team, Cap collected 22 hits, with a trio going to each
Cole Callaghan,
Logan White,
Ryne McKinney and
Connor Feeney. Additionally,
Brandon Barnette,
CJ Rockwell, and
EJ Santana had two hits each.
In the RBI column,
Logan White led the way with four.
Connor Feeney was just behind with three on the day.
Hunter Wilson clubbed his first career home run in the game one win for two RBIs of his own.
The first game was hurled by
Connor Jones who had a solid day on the mound. Jones threw 5.1 innings and only conceded five hits, one walk, and one run, while striking out five Polar Bears.
Gavin Vanhorn ate up all 3.2 innings of relief for Jones, allowing just two hits, three walks, and one unearned run. He punched out one as well. He also earned the save for his efforts. Both the win for Jones and the save for Vanhorn were the first of their careers.
In game two,
Tyler Sickles was strapped with the loss as he conceded three runs (two earned) in 2.2 innings of work. The cavalry from the bullpen of
Bryant Caporale,
Colin Boldin,
Aaron Olech,
Spencer Knight, and
Garrett Kroese combined to make up the other time on the mound. As a unit, they struck out four.
GAME ONE - Capital wins 7-2
In the first game, Capital got on the board with three runs in the top half of the second inning. First,
Connor Feeney reached on an error that enabled
Brendan Stinson to race home. Then, with Feeney on third after the error,
Hunter Wilson hit a two-out homer to center field, pushing Cap ahead 3-0 early. The homer was Wilson's first as a collegian.
ONU then got a run in the bottom of the second before a sac fly from
Ryne McKinney scored
Brandon Barnette in the top of the third to return the three-run lead to Capital. Just two innings later,
Connor Feeney again delivered, this time with a two-RBI single to right field that scored
CJ Rockwell and McKinney.
Capital put the final insurance tally on the board in the top of the six as
Cole Callaghan scored on
Logan White's sac fly.
A single run in the bottom of the ninth from ONU brought the final score to 7-2, but Capital had done enough to hang on for their second conference win of the year.
GAME TWO - Ohio Northern wins 12-5
Capital got on the board first as
Logan White drove home
Cole Callaghan on an RBI single in the top of the first inning. After two scoreless frames, Cap fell behind as the Polar Bears scored 10 times through the third, fourth, and fifth innings.
In the middle of the Ohio Northern flurry,
Logan White again delivered some offense for Capital as he smacked a double to left that scored both
Abram Sykora and Callaghan.
Capital would then ride scoreless to the ninth inning before they would start a little momentum that yielded two runs.
Connor Feeney recorded an RBI on a fielder's choice, before a wild pitch allowed
Brendan Stinson to score.
Despite the little bit of late inning momentum, the two runs would be it for Cap as the hosts would hang on for the 12-5 win.
UP NEXT
Capital will leave OAC play this week as they will travel to Ohio Wesleyan for a single game on Tuesday, April 26th before hosting Wittenberg for a doubleheader on Thursday, April 28th. The three games will be the team's final non-conference games of the year.
