GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The No. 2 Davenport baseball team suffered their first doubleheader loss of the season Sunday afternoon at the Farmers Insurance Athletic Complex. No. 23 Northwestern Ohio broke a tie in the 11^th inning to escape game one 5-4 and ran away with a 6-1 victory over the Panthers later in the afternoon.
 
The two losses put Davenport (39-6, 23-4 WHAC) a half of a game behind Northwestern Ohio (35-9, 23-3 WHAC) with six conference games remaining.
 
Game 1 – Northwestern Ohio 5, Davenport 4 (11 Innings)
Although starter Brendan Bender retired the first two batters in the game, the Racers though got two runners on with a double and a walk which setup a two-run hit.
 
Bender kept Northwestern Ohio scoreless the rest of his seven-inning outing. He exited the game allowing seven hits and two walks.
 
Still trailing by two in the sixth, the Panthers evened the score when Matt Priebe hit a two-run blast to left field.
 
Davenport took the lead in the next inning, Brandon Cable led off with a base hit and pinch-runner Tyler Baratono took third after a poor throw to second. With Nolan Wilson at the plate, Baratono snuck his way home on a stolen base.
 
The lead did not last very long as Northwestern Ohio answered back with a leadoff single followed by triple tied the game. A fielder's choice allowed the Racers to take the lead.
 
The Panthers evened the score again in the eighth when Bender hit a single up the middle to score in Connor Seymour.
 
After throwing scoreless innings, UNOH broke the tie in the 11^th inning when a one-out single followed by a double setup a sacrifice fly to center field.
 
Game 2 – Northwestern Ohio 6, Davenport 1
It was déjà vu as the Racers got two runs across in the opening inning. UNOH added three more runs in the fourth using back-to-back RBI singles and a squeeze play.
 
Davenport's lone run came in the fifth inning. Jordan Zylstra led off with a double down the right field line, advanced to third on Matt Hoge's base hit and Seymour was hit by the pitch to force in a run.
 
Jerry Ferris threw all seven innings allowing five earned runs on eight hits and two walks. In addition, he struck out six.
 
The Panthers wrap up both their home and non-conference schedule Tuesday with Olivet Tuesday at 7 p.m.
 
Baseball Contact: Rick Hoskin | 616-871-6180 | rhoskin@davenport.edu
DU Athletics: Twitter | Facebook | YouTube | Instagram
Baseball: Twitter | Facebook