Baseball: Heidelberg (10-3 Overall, 0-0 OAC) at Ohio Northern (10-4 Overall, 0-0 OAC)
Saturday, Mar. 24, 2018 - 1 p.m. - Wander Field - Ada, Ohio
Preview: Saturday's twibill with Heidelberg marks Northern's home opener at Wander Field and the first Ohio Athletic Conference action of the season ... The Polar Bears enter the contest after dropping a very close 4-3 decision at Anderson (Ind.) on Thursday afternoon ... Prior to that contest, Northern was riding a six game winning streak ... In the contest against Anderson, seniors Kyle Schlade, Brandon Kasberg and Hayden Shenefield led the way offensively for ONU, recording a pair of hits each ... Sophomore Nate Bye led Northern on the mound, striking out five batters through 6.0 innings of work ... Through 14 games this season, junior Luke Klinehoffer leads the team in hits (24), runs scored (15), and batting average (.393) and is tied for first on the team with 13 RBI ... Junior Caleb Thomas is also tied for first on the team with 13 RBI, and ranks second on the team with 19 hits ... Senior Jason Burkett currently leads the team and is tied for third in the OAC with two home runs this season ... On the mound, junior Austin Frey has a team-best three victories and is tied for third in the OAC in the category ... Sophomore Jack Schaller leads the team and ranks second in the conference with 28 K's this season ... Senior closer T.J. Storer currently has an OAC-high five saves and is tied for fourth nationally in the category ... Heidelberg enters the contest riding a four game winning streak ... The Student Princes received votes in the latest ABCA DIII poll ... Offensively, senior Evan Long has a team-best 21 hits, 15 runs scored, 13 RBI, and a .412 BA ... Junior Matt Psychas ranks second on the team with 19 hits ... The Heidelberg pitching staff is led by sophomore Cameron Deemer's four victories, which is tied for the best mark in the OAC ... Deemer is tied with teammate and sophomore Trevor Adkins for first on the team with 24 K's ... Adkins leads the team and ranks second in the OAC with a 1.25 ERA, while junior Joey Wenning leads the team and is tied for second in the OAC with three saves.
Batting Leaders
| Batting Ave. | Hits | Runs | RBIs | |||||||||||
| 1. | Klinehoffer | .393 | 1. | Klinehoffer | 24 | 1. | Klinehoffer | 15 | 1. | Thomas | 13 | |||
| 2. | Barna | .357 | 2. | Thomas | 19 | 2. | J. Burkett | 13 | Klinehoffer | 13 | ||||
| Kasberg | .357 | 3. | J. Burkett | 16 | 3. | Kasberg | 12 | 3. | J. Burkett | 11 | ||||
| Schlade | 16 |
Pitching Leaders
| Wins | ERA | Strikeouts | Saves | ||||||||||
| 1. | Frey | 3 | 1. | Schaller | 1.69 | 1. | Schaller | 28 | 1. | Storer | 5 | ||
| 2. | Bye | 2 | 2. | Bye | 3.14 | 2. | Frey | 17 | |||||
| Schaller | 2 | 3. | Frey | 3.79 | 3. | Mohr | 16 |
Series Notes: Northern leads the all-time series against Heidelberg by a 70-48 margin ... The two teams split the seasons series in 2017 ... They have split the season series in each of the last three seasons ... The last sweep in the series came in 2014 when ONU won 4-3, 7-3.
ONU head coach Gene Stechschulte: Stechschulte in his seventh season at ONU with an overall record of 142-104, a winning percentage of .577.
