It’s Another Baseball Split for AU Against Timberwolves
April 10, 2005

Complete Box Scores
Game 1         Game 2

Now here’s a split that wasn’t delicious.

It’s warm in Ashland this week and that has area residents scrambling to buy ice cream cones and banana splits, staples of warm weather. The Ashland University baseball team had to endure a split of a different kind and it left a sour taste in the mouth.

Sunday (April 10), the Eagles divided a pair of games with Northwood at Donges Field. The Eagles won the opener, 8-1. Northwood shut down the Eagles in the second contest, 4-0. The teams also split a twinbill on Saturday.

AU is 21-8, 4-2 in Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference action. The Timberwolves are 8-16 and 2-4.

Ashland scored four times in the first inning of the first game, reaching NU starter and loser Derrick Bennett (0-3) for two hits. Bennett’s defense didn’t help him, the ‘Wolves had a pair of misplays in the frame.

AU added two more runs in the third inning. Left fielder Troy Reeder belted a homer and designated hitter Ray Frisbee slugged a triple. Frisbee barely had time to dust himself off before shortstop Jim Barry brought him home with a triple to center field.

Second baseman Adam Wilson also had a triple, his three-bagger came in the fourth inning. Reeder and Frisbee both finished 2-for-3.

Junior righty Lek Cole took full advantage of that onslaught. He improved to 5-0, tying Ryan Petrich for the team lead in wins. Cole allowed four hits, walked two and struck out seven.

In the second game, AU had very little success against NU lefthander Joe Ashdown (1-1). He pitched his first complete game of the season, limiting the Eagles to four hits. AU didn’t manage a safety until Josh Davidson singled with one out in the fourth inning. AU loaded the bases with two outs in the seventh thanks to a walk, a hit batter and a single, but Ashdown didn’t break. He got Allen Ayers to ground out to first base to dash any AU comeback hopes.

Northwood scored single runs in the first and third innings and pushed across two insurance runs in the seventh. AU starter and loser Todd Wells (3-2) walked in the first run. In the third, D.J. Hughes tripled to center field and came home on a sacrifice fly by Chris Kouris.

Wells pitched the first five innings before departing in favor of Davidson. The AU bullpen ace was touched for two runs in the seventh. Kouris and designated hitter Matt Shields had run-scoring singles in the frame.

Hughes and Butch Metzger were 2-for-3 for NU. No one had more than one hit for AU.

The Eagles will return to the field on Wednesday (April 13), hosting Wayne State in a GLIAC doubleheader. The first game begins at 2 p.m.