Eagles, Timberwolves Baseball Teams End Weekend Deadlocked
April 10, 2004

This is the time of the year when children go on Easter Egg hunts, searching all over the yard for the colored eggs.

Ashland University freshman righthander Josh Davidson threw some goose eggs at the Northwood Timberwolves and that left them searching for hits. Unfortunately for the Eagles, junior righty Cody Castle wasn’t as fortunate against the ‘Wolves.

Davidson pitched six shutout innings Saturday (Apr. 10) at Northwood as AU won the second game of a Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader, 11-0. The first game went to the Timberwolves, 7-5, who handed Castle (5-1) his first loss of the season.

Ashland is 27-9, 9-3 in league play. Northwood is 21-12 and 7-7.

AU made sure that Davidson (4-2) didn’t lack for support. The Eagles scored twice in the top of the first inning, senior catcher Josh Gaub singling to bring in the first run. The second run came home when senior outfielder Brandon Cornell scored on passed ball.

The Eagles pushed across three more runs in the third and two more runs in the fourth. That was plenty of cushion for Davidson, who walked one and struck out two. Senior righthander Chad Moore pitched the seventh inning and allowed one hit.

Gaub finished the game 2-for-3 with three RBI. Senior shortstop Eric McDaniel was 2-for-3 and rookie third baseman Casey Jirsa went 2-for-4. Cornell, McDaniel and Jirsa all ripped doubles.

The Timberwolves reached Castle for three runs in the first inning of the opener and got to him for four runs in the fifth. Northwood had five hits in the first inning and the Eagles didn’t help themselves with two errors. In the fifth, the ‘Wolves bunched together five hits and got a two-run single by shortstop Jeremy Wolverton. Wolverton finished the game 2-for-3. Catcher Justin Davis was 2-for-2 and knocked in two runs.

Castle pitched his third complete game of the year. He allowed seven runs, six earned, on 11 hits. Castle walked three and struck out two.

Sophomore outfielder David Waters and freshman first baseman Ron Oneson had two hits apiece for AU. Oneson belted his second homer of the year. McDaniel was 1-for-2 with a three-run homer. The round-tripper was his third of the season.

NU starter Derrick Bennett (4-0) lasted five innings to get the win. He allowed a run on four hits. The save went to Brett Gehringer, who pitched the final two innings. In between those two, A.J. Eppler had a stint that resulted in a hit and three runs.

The Eagles return to the diamond on Tuesday (Apr. 13) when they host Northern Kentucky in a non-conference doubleheader. The first pitch is slated for 2 p.m.