The Ashland University baseball team gave up five runs in the first inning and was never able to bounce back as Northwood won the series finale on Sunday (March 25) afternoon at Donges Field, 9-4.
The Timberwolves (16-7, 3-1 GLIAC), who are the reigning GLIAC champions, took the final three games of the series after the Eagles (9-8, 1-3 GLIAC) won the first on Friday.
On Sunday, the Eagles walked three, hit a batter and committed an error in the first inning and Northwood capitalized to take a 5-0 lead against three AU pitchers.
Senior Pat Carlozzi steadied the ship to get out of the inning and followed that up with six strong relief innings as he gave the rest of the staff a chance to catch its breath ahead of a five-game schedule this week.
Carlozzi gave up just one unearned run in his six innings, walking two and striking out six. He used 80 pitches.
Sophomore Carson Mittermaier gave the Eagles their first run in the bottom of the first with an RBI single that scored freshman Austin Eifrid, who walked to start the inning.
An RBI double by senior Connor Barleben that scored senior Greg Ludwig in the fourth cut the margin to 6-2.
That score remained until the eighth when the Brian Dombrowski led off with a solo homer to left field – the only home run hit in the four-game set.
In the bottom of the eighth, a sac fly by Eifrid and Ludwig's RBI single cut the deficit to 7-4. Ashland wound up loading the bases with two outs in the inning, bringing the go-ahead run to the plate, but NU relief ace Lennon Gwizdala got strike out to end the threat.
Northwood broke it open with two runs in the ninth to make it 9-4.
NU starter Nathan Langenfeld (2-0) went five innings to earn the win. He gave up two runs on two hits with two walks and one strikeout. AU starter Sam Rice was charged with the loss.
Mittermaier was the only Eagle with two hits as Northwood out-hit the Eagles, 8-5.
The Eagles will now look ahead to a nonconference tilt with Lake Erie on Tuesday (March 27) scheduled for 3 p.m. at Donges Field.
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