Oilers Drop Two vs. GLIAC Foe Northwood
The University of Findlay baseball team began their final home-series of the season with a double header on Saturday, May 3 against Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) foe, Northwood University. The Oilers dropped both contests, the first by a 12-2 final and the second by a score of 5-3. The losses moved Findlay to 11-30 overall and 8-23 in conference play.
Game 1 Box Score
Northwood used a three-run homerun in the first inning to jump on top of the home team and did not give up that early lead.
Findlay answered with a run of their own in the bottom of the first when Joe Sickler drew a bases loaded walk that allowed Peter Yorgen to cross the dish.
Sickler struck again in the bottom of the third when he drove in Jordan Garacia with an RBI double to left center field and bringing the Oilers to within a run at 3-2.
Northwood grabbed a pair of runs in the top of inning number four and broke the game open in the sixth with seven runs in the frame and pushing their lead to a less-than-manageable 12-2 score.
Jon Walker took the loss on the mound for the Oilers as he pitched 5.1 innings and allowed 10 runs, nine earned, on 10 hits. He walked four and struck out four.
Sickler led the Oilers at the plate as he was a perfect 2-for-2 in the game with two RBI.
Game 2 Box Score
In the nightcap, the Oilers faced a 5-1 deficit by the fourth inning and battled to within two runs but could not get the big hit when it was needed, falling by a 5-3 final.
Down 1-0, Derek Draper, also the starting pitcher for the home team, helped his own cause with a single to left that scored Garcia, who singled with one out earlier in the frame.
The Timberwolves scored a pair of runs in the third and fourth innings, pushing their lead to 5-1.
Findlay answered in the bottom of the fourth when Garcia drove in Kevin Schrock on a fielder's choice and scored again in the sixth when Michael Louis drove in Logan Harrah with a sacrifice fly. These scores still saw the Oilers behind by a 5-3 tally and that would prove to be the final score as the home team was set down in order in the seventh.
Draper led the offense as he picked up a pair of singles and one RBI while Louis and Yorgen each had one hit and an RBI.
Draper took the loss on the mound as he pitched 4+ innings and allowed five runs on seven hits. He walked five and struck out three.
Alex Williams picked up four strikeouts in three perfect innings of relief.
In between games, the Oilers honored seniors Joe Sickler, Reid Rothenbuhler, Dylan Cintula, Michael Louis, Drew Hargrove, and Derek Draper as the group was beginning its final home series. The class of 2014 has collected 65 wins since arriving on campus in the fall of 2010.
The Oilers look to win their final contest of the season as they play Northwood in the series finale tomorrow at noon at Fifth Third Field at the Marathon Diamonds.