Things started well for the Oglethorpe baseball team Friday afternoon at Anderson Field. However, the visiting Adrian Bulldogs turned an early 3-0 Stormy Petrel lead around and pulled out to a 14-8 win in the first of five games in as many days for Oglethorpe. The result dropped the Petrels to 5-8 on the season.
The Petrels scored in each of the first three innings. They tallied an unearned run in the first after a two-out rally and an Adrian error produced a run. They added two in the second on a pair of run-scoring singles by freshman shortstop Billy Finch and senior right fielder Patrick Burnette.
The Bulldogs came back to tie it up with a trio of runs in the the top of the third, but Oglethorpe had an answer in the bottom half of the inning. Senior left fielder Jacob Gassert homered to right-center to give the Petrels the lead back, then Finch followed with another RBI single after senior third baseman Dylan Leonard singled and moved to second on a groundout. The Petrels led 5-3 at the end of the third.
Adrian turned the tide from there, though. They followed up with five runs in the top of the fourth to flip the game into their favor, 8-5. They added two more in the sixth to make it 10-5 before the Petrels answered with a run on a Jack Bartlewski sacrifice fly to make it 10-6. The teams traded runs in the seventh, Oglethorpe's coming on a massive Gassert home run, to make it 11-7. The Bulldogs put the game away with three in the ninth, though. An Austin Jackson RBI single brought Oglethorpe a run closer, but it was too late.
Gassert finished 2-for-4 with two home runs, a walk and a stolen base. Jackson went 3-for-5 with an RBI, Bartlewski went 2-for-3 with a walk and an RBI, and Leonard went 2-for-3 with two runs scored.
Freshman right-hander Jonathan Haab got the start and suffered the loss for the Petrels. He allowed eight runs on six hits over 3 2/3 innings, walking seven Bulldogs and striking out three.
The Petrels outhit the Bulldogs, garnering 16 hits to their opponent's 15. However, Oglethorpe walked 10 batters and hit three more with pitches while Adrian walked just three and hit two.
The same two teams will be back in action Saturday from Anderson Field at 1 p.m. to complete the two-game series. After that, Case Western Reserve comes to town for another two-game series Sunday and Monday.