AUBURNDALE, Fla. -- The Grove City College baseball team opened its 2017 Spring Break trip with a pair of setbacks, falling to Ohio Northern 13-3 and 3-2 in doubleheader action on Saturday afternoon and evening at the Lake Myrtle Sports Complex's Field No. 8.

Senior catcher Andy Fritz (Saxonburg, Pa./Knoch) and junior left fielder Tyler Graham (Vandergrift, Pa./Kiski Area) each posted three hits on the day to combine for six of Grove City's 14 total hits in the two games.

In the opener, Grove City (1-4), playing as the home team in the opener, fell behind early, allowing six runs to the Polar Bears (3-1) during the first two frames. The Wolverines got on the board in the bottom of the third as freshman first baseman Matt Dayton (Allison Park, Pa./Hampton) scored on an error and senior shortstop David Laylock (Pittsburgh, Pa./Pine Richland) later brought sophomore right fielder Shane Hammel (Fort Collins, Colo./Fossil Ridge) home with an RBI-single through the left side to close the gap to 6-2 through three.

That would be as close as the Wolverines would get, however, as Ohio Northern added a run in the fourth and two in each of the final three innings. Grove City earned its final run on an RBI-groundout by sophomore designated hitter Travis Auth (Medina, Ohio/Medina) in the bottom of the sixth.

Senior Ben Finlan (State College, Pa./State College) started and took the loss on the mound for the Wolverines, allowing eight earned runs over four and two-thirds innings of work. Fellow senior Cedric Hils (Pittsburgh, Pa./Central Catholic) pitched the final two and one-third innings in relief.

Graham was the lone Wolverine with multiple hits in the game with two.

Fewer runs were to be found in the nightcap, as Grove City sophomore Phil Bell (Poland, Ohio/Heartland Christian) found himself in a bit of a pitcher's duel with the Polar Bears' Jack Schaller. Ohio Northern, playing as the home team in the second game, struck first in the bottom of the second, stringing together a trio of singles to take a 1-0 lead. Grove City later answered in the top of the fourth as Laylock drew a leadoff walk and later scored when Fritz notched the Wolverines' first hit of the game with an RBI-single to right to tie the game at 1-1.

Grove City took its first lead of the series in the top of the sixth. Graham led off the inning with a double to left but was held there after a groundout and a strikeout. The Polar Bears intentionally walked Fritz, but senior second baseman Nolan Myers (Landisville, Pa./Hempfield) made sure it didn't matter by hitting a single to left field that brought Graham home to give the Wolverines a 2-1 lead. Freshman center fielder Austin Wacker (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cumberland Valley) was then hit by a pitch to load the bases, but the Wolverines were unable to add on.

That proved pivotal, as Ohio Northern answered in the bottom of the sixth to tie the score at 2-2. In the top of the second, Grove City threatened after a Polar Bear error and a hit batter gave the Wolverines a pair of baserunners with just one out, but a double play ended the threat.

Senior reliever Jimmy Palmer (Pittsburgh, Pa./Chartiers Valley) came in to relieve bell for the bottom of the seventh and produced a 1-2-3 half-inning to send the game into extras. Grove City threatened in the top of the eighth, as Fritz hit a one-out single off of Ohio Northern's All-American closer T.J. Storer, but Storer would get a fielder's choice and a strikeout to get out of the inning. In the bottom half, Palmer got into an early jam by allowing a leadoff walk and a single with both runners advancing. A strikeout and a fly ball to shallow center later, and it looked like Palmer might escape the frame, but Jason Burkett drove a single to left field to end the game in walkoff fashion.

Palmer took the loss in relief, allowing two hits and one earned run over one and two-thirds innings while striking out three. Bell was strong in his first collegiate start, scattering seven hits and two earned runs over six innings of action.

Fritz recorded two of Grove City's four hits in the nightcap while he and Myers drove in the Wolverine runs.

Grove City returns to action in Florida today at noon against Albion.