ADA, Ohio – The Trine University baseball team was defeated by Ohio Northern University on Monday afternoon 17-3 in their final non-conference game of the 2024 season. The loss drops Trine to 8-9 overall while the opposing Polar Bears are 7-10.

Ohio Northern brought all nine men to the plate in the midst of a five-run first inning to take a commanding lead. Two more runs came across for the Polar Bears in the third and fourth frames to go up 9-0.

The Thunder put together a three-run inning in the top of the fifth, their only scores of the contest. A pair of hit by pitches for Dane DuBois and Brayden Basey put two runners on for Easton Rhodes to single and load the bases. The clean-up hitter Dalton Nikirk delivered an RBI single to left and an error allowed an additional run to come across to score. Joel Walton drove in one more with a groundball out.

Ohio Northern would one-up Trine in the bottom half with a four spot to extend the lead to 13-3. The sixth and seventh innings featured a combined four runs for the Polar Bears in the 17-3 loss for the Thunder.

Nikirk, Cole Temple and Nathan Gilmet had multiple hits, with Nikirk and Gilmet going 2-for-3 and Temple 2-for-4. Evan Shoppell (0-2) was saddled with the loss on the bump. Jack Villarreal struck out four batters in his 1.1 innings of work and Noah Brettin had a scoreless eighth out of the Trine bullpen.

Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) play begins on Friday, March 29 at 4 p.m. against Hope College. The three-game conference series starts at Jannen Field before Saturday's road doubleheader.