Baseball: Ohio Northern (10-3 Overall) at Anderson (Ind.) (9-9 Overall)
Thursday, Mar. 22, 2018 - 4:15 p.m. - Grand Park, Westfield, Indiana
Preview: The Polar Bears will travel to Westfield, Ind. to take on the Anderson Ravens on Thursday afternoon after Tuesday's home-opener with Trine (Ind.) was postponed due to inclement weather ... The contest with Anderson, originally scheduled for Wednesday afternoon, was also push back due to snowy conditions in the forecast ... The Polar Bears enter the contest riding a 6-game winning streak, including a 3-games series sweep over Thomas More (Ky.) ... ONU defeated the Saints 6-5 on Thursday before sweeping a double header with TMC 2-1, 13-7 on Sunday afternoon ... In Sunday's matchups at TMC, junior Austin Frey and sophomore Jack Schaller stayed perfect on the season as the duo posted a pair of victories on the mound ... Schaller tied a career-high with 11 strikeouts, while Frey moved to 3-0 this season with six K's in the game two victory ... Senior All-American T.J. Storer recorded his Ohio Athletic Conference-leading fifth save of the season ... His mark is currently tied for second nationally ... In the two victories, seniors Jason Burkett and Dan Barna and sophomore Phil Buckingham each hit home runs ... Burkett is tied for third in the OAC with two home runs this season ... Junior Luke Klinehoffer currently has team-bests in hits (23), doubles (5), and batting average (.404) ... Junior Caleb Thomas leads the team with 13 RBI and is second on the team with 19 hits and a .373 batting average ... On the mound, Schaller leads the team and ranks second in the OAC with 28 K's and leads the team and is fifth in the OAC with a 1.69 ERA ... Frey is tied for third in the OAC with three victories ... Anderson enters the contest after a 10-game trip at the RussMatt Invitational in Auburndale, Fla. ... The Ravens posted a 5-5 record during the trip, and won their last two contests prior to Thursday's matchup ... AU is led offensively this season by senior Nick Butcher's 30 hits, including 13 doubles, two triples and a home run ... Butcher also ranks second on the team with a .429 batting average, behind teammate and junior Branton Sanders, who has a team-best .435 batting average ... The junior also has a team-high 19 RBI ... In total, eight players have recorded double digit hits this season ... Sophomore Nick Jones leads the Ravens on the mound with a perfect 3-0 record ... Senior John Becker leads the team with 22 K's and has thrown a team-high 20.1 innings ... Freshman Zachary Lane ranks second on the squad with 14 strikeouts.
Batting Leaders
| Batting Ave. | Hits | Runs | RBIs | |||||||||||
| 1. | Klinehoffer | .404 | 1. | Klinehoffer | 23 | 1. | Klinehoffer | 15 | 1. | Thomas | 13 | |||
| 2. | Thomas | .373 | 2. | Thomas | 19 | 2. | J. Burkett | 12 | 2. | Klinehoffer | 12 | |||
| 3. | Barna | .346 | 3. | J. Burkett | 16 | Kasberg | 12 | 3. | J. Burkett | 11 |
Pitching Leaders
| Wins | ERA | Strikeouts | Saves | ||||||||||
| 1. | Frey | 3 | 1. | Schaller | 1.69 | 1. | Schaller | 28 | 1. | Storer | 5 | ||
| 2. | Bye | 2 | 2. | Frey | 3.79 | 2. | Frey | 17 | |||||
| Schaller | 2 | 3. | Beaton | 4.50 | 3. | Mohr | 16 |
Series Notes: Anderson owns a 2-0 lead against ONU in the all-time series ... ONU dropped a tight 6-5 decision last season against the Ravens, the first meeting between the two schools since the met for the first time in school history in 1995, where AU claimed a 6-0 victory.
ONU head coach Gene Stechschulte: Stechschulte in his seventh season at ONU with an overall record of 142-103, a winning percentage of .580.