Ohio Northern Rallies for Win Over Defiance

ADA, Ohio – The Defiance College baseball team saw a 4-1 lead slip away at Ohio Northern and suffered a 6-5 non-conference loss on Tuesday afternoon. The Jackets struggled at the plate with men on base, stranding 14 runners in the defeat.

The missed opportunities came back to haunt Defiance, as ONU battled back from a 4-1 deficit in the fifth inning. The Bears plated a pair of runs in the bottom of the frame, before tying the game at 4-4 with a run in the bottom of the seventh and tacking on two more in the eighth to claim the 6-4 advantage.

Defiance saw its first two batters go down on strikes to start the ninth, before Mykel Rosario reached on a walk and scored on a pinch-hit single off the bat of Tim Pitro. An ONU throwing error extended the inning and put the potential go-ahead run on base but Michael Dushane grounded out to the shortstop to end the game.

Aaron Stewart started the game for the Yellow Jackets and tossed five innings, while allowing three runs on seven hits. Ethan Salsbury (0-2) entered in the sixth and took the loss after giving up two earned runs on four hits in three innings.

Kirk Jesse and Keith Wade turned in the only multi-hit performances for Defiance, as Jesse went 2-5 with a run and Wade was 3-5 with an RBI. Braden Brugler was just 1-3 at the plate and reached base safely in all five trips to the plate to raise his season on-base percentage to a team-best .479.

Defiance (4-17) will take the diamond again on Sunday when it hosts the University of St. Francis at Rutter Field with the first pitch slated for 1:00 pm.