Schweickert Field has been golden to the John Carroll University baseball team of late.
 
No. 23 Ohio Northern played spoiler in the first game winning 7-3. John Carroll would rebound to take the 11-5 win in the second half of the twin bill.
 
The loss in game one snapped JCU's program-best 13-game win streak and snapped JCU's current home win streak of 14 straight.
 
John Carroll's record stands at 16-4, 5-1 OAC while Ohio Northern is 16-4, 4-2 OAC after the split.
 
Game One
Ohio Northern 7, John Carroll 3
 
One inning can make a difference.
 
Backed by a four-run sixth inning Ohio Northern pulled out a 7-3 win in game one of the twin bill. The loss snapped John Carroll's program-best 13-game win streak.
 
Two unearned runs gave Ohio Northern the early 2-0 lead in the second. Nick Guitar came in to score on a throwing error by Jacob Schriner. Brady Foley scored on a sacrifice bunt from Brandon Kasberg to push the lead to two.
 
John Carroll finally got to Ohio Northern ace Nick Eltzroth in the fourth inning. The Blue Streaks plated three runs to take the 3-2 lead. Rob Cifelli scored JCU's first run. The junior capitalized as Eltzroth skimmed an attempted pickoff attempt over to first. Tyler Gentile tied the game with a one-out double to left center. He would later score on a throwing error from Foley.
 
"We got down with the two and were able to plate some runs," said head coach Marc Thibeault. "We took advantage of a couple of Ohio Northern's mistakes. You have to give credit to their pitcher after that. He pretty much shut us down. We only scored in one inning in game one, which really hasn't occurred with our team in quite some time. Again, Eltzroth was doing a pretty good job of filling up the strike zone."
 
The lead would not hold.
 
Ohio Northern would get to Brandon Maddern in the sixth. The Polar Bears did their damage with two outs recording five singles and a walk en route to trotting four runs across home plate.
 
ONU added an insurance run in the eighth off of Aaron Lapaglia. Hayden Shenefield legged out an infield single allowing Clay Small to come in on Lapaglia's error.
 
Eltzroth picked up the win for ONU improving to 6-0. The right-hander fired seven innings allowing seven hits and one earned run.
 
Maddern took the loss falling to 2-2 on the year. The southpaw fired 5 2/3 innings but did record 10 strikeouts.
 
Schriner, Mark Huddle and Bobby Sabatino all recorded two hits for the JCU diamond men.
 
ONU used three double plays to help itself overcome six errors.
 
Game Two
John Carroll 11, Ohio Northern 5
 
Chip away and chip away some more. That was the mentality of John Carroll in the second game.
 
The Blue Streaks overcame a rough start to top the Polar Bears 11-5 in the second game of the twin bill.
 
Not to be outdone was John Carroll's defense making big plays to squash potential Ohio Northern rallies.
 
John Carroll's defense turned a 1-6-3 twin killer in the third inning after allowing the first two Ohio Northern hitters to reach base. The Polar Bears did likewise in the fifth but Patrick Scholla came up with the laser from right field throwing out Shenefield at third base. James Molnar started a 7-5-2 relay to nail Eltzroth at the plate in the sixth which at the time would have tied the game up at six. JCU would add a 6-4-3 double play in the seventh.
 
"Those are things you can't practice every single day especially with the weather and stuff that we've been having," said Thibeault on his team's stellar defensive plays in the second game. "Our outfield has been wet so it's tough. We work on those things. Coach Skomra works with the outfield on really getting on top and getting the ball downhill. Those were two really big plays. One ended an inning and stopped a run. The other stopped the potential of a big inning."
 
Ohio Northern took advantage of a miscommunication in the top of the first inning as Shenefield's two-out double that fell in the outfield sparked four Polar Bear runs in the frame.
 
Said Thibeault, "That's a spot where we shouldn't have given up a single run in the first inning. Those guys know it; they didn't communicate well in the outfield and that ball dropped. We have a great outfield and that's just one of those plays that didn't get made. You saw in the last inning, the last leadoff guy hit that bomb and Cifelli tracked that down. Our outfield is great, just that situation didn't work in our favor."
 
John Carroll countered with two in the bottom of the first and would do likewise in innings four, five and six.
 
"To be down by four and get it to 4-2 and chip," said Thibeault when commenting on receiving a pair of runs in four different innings. "Then, those middle innings we were able to win with good execution type bats with the defensive setting they were in with less than two outs and runners on third. It was good to put it in play and not strike out there."
 
The Blue Streaks plated their first run of the game on a throwing error from Kasberg which allowed Cifelli to score on the play. Huddle halved the Polar Bears' lead ripping a two-out double to left making the score 4-2 through one.
 
Ohio Northern pushed the lead to 5-2 in the third on Eltzroth's two-out single.
 
John Carroll made it a one run game in the fifth. Schriner legged out a one-out double to left-center making it a 5-3 contest. He would come in to score on Scholla's single to right center.
 
The Blue Streaks took the lead in the fifth. David Crowley tied the game up at five coming in to score on a Polar Bear throwing error. Moments later Raschilla laced a one-out single to hand JCU the 6-5 advantage.
 
Crowley and Huddle each drove in runs via sacrifice flies in the sixth to make it an 8-5 JCU lead.
 
David Lykens came through with a clutch two-run, two-out single in the eighth. He would later extend JCU's lead to six coming in to score on ONU's 10th error of the day.
 
Said Thibeault, "To get those runs late for the insurance, that baseball team has won 16 teams and is a great ball club. They can pitch it. They came in with a sub-2.00 ERA. For us to be able to score 11 runs, that shows a lot of character. It leads to again, the mantra to be as mature as we possibly can, no matter what the score is."
 
Drew Doring picked up the win. The senior fired six innings allowing five runs while striking out eight. Mark Materise collected his third save of the year pitching three innings of two-hit shutout relief.
 
JCU had five players record multiple hits at the plate in the second game led by Sabatino's three.
 
The Blue Streaks are slated to return to action on Monday, April 6. John Carroll will host Case Western Reserve University in a twin bill at 2 p.m. Check back to www.jcusports.com and the John Carroll baseball Twitter account (@JCU_Baseball) for any potential schedule updates.