Baseball: Mount Union (21-11 Overall, 9-5 OAC) at Ohio Northern (23-11 Overall, 10-4 OAC)
Saturday, April 29, 2023, 12:30 p.m. – Wander Field, Ada, Ohio
Saturday's Preview: Ohio Northern continues Ohio Athletic Conference play on Saturday hosting a doubleheader against Mount Union on Senior Day … The Polar Bears are currently tied with Marietta for second place in the Ohio Athletic Conference standings, three games behind Baldwin Wallace … Marietta owns the head-to-head tiebreaker over ONU courtesy of a doubleheader sweep on April 2… ONU is coming off Thursday's 17-3 win over Ohio Wesleyan … Through 34 games, freshman Chase Armstrong leads ONU with a .376 batting average, followed by fifth-year senior Corey McMann (.319) and junior Logan Stevens (.319) … Armstrong leads the team with nine doubles, seven homers and 27 runs … Armstrong is tied for fourth in the OAC in home runs … Sophomore Joey Kennedy is tied for 10th in the OAC with 13 steals … Stevens has a team-high 44 hits and 31 RBIs … Sophomore Blake Altaffer leads the OAC with a 1.60 ERA, and senior Jack Hutchins (2.58) is tied for sixth … Altaffer has six wins, which is tied for third in the OAC … Senior Tim Knapschaefer is tied for fourth in the OAC in strikeouts (52) … Sophomore Vaughn Duncan has an OAC-best seven saves … McMann is ONU's all-time career leader in hits (202) and doubles (49), and he ranks fourth in RBIs (118) and 10th in home runs (18) … Senior Jacob Wenning is tied for 31st all-time at ONU with 139 career hits … Senior Nate Webb has 106 career hits and is tied for eighth all-time in home runs (19) … Stevens has 97 career hits … Knapschaefer has 149 career strikeouts, which ranks 14th in program history … Mount Union is coming off Sunday's 8-6, 14-7 doubleheader sweep of Wilmington and is tied for fourth in the OAC … On the season, Zack Mazza (.379) and Andrew Witte (.349) lead the Purple Raiders in batting average … Mazza has a team-high 39 runs, seven home runs and 16 steals … Mazza ranks third in the OAC in steals, is tied for fourth in home runs and tied for sixth in runs … Eric Schilling leads UMU with 45 hits, including a team-best 10 doubles and four triples, and has an OAC-high 47 RBIs … On the mound, Leo Fornara is 6-1 with a 1.64 ERA and 48 strikeouts, and Jaired Lehman is 5-1 with a 4.94 ERA and 32 strikeouts … Fornara ranks second in the OAC in ERA and eighth in strikeouts.
Ohio Northern Batting Leaders
Batting Avg. | Hits | Runs | RBI | |||||||||||
1. | Armstrong | .376 | 1. | Stevens | 44 | 1. | Armstrong | 27 | 1. | Stevens | 31 | |||
2. | McMann | .319 | 2. | McMann | 38 | 2. | Wenning | 25 | 2. | Webb | 26 | |||
Stevens | .319 | 3. | Wenning | 37 | 3. | Reed | 24 | 3. | Reed | 24 | ||||
Stevens | 24 |
Ohio Northern Pitching Leaders
Wins | ERA | Strikeouts | ||||||||
1. | Altaffer | 6 | 1. | Altaffer | 1.60 | 1. | Knapschaefer | 52 | ||
2. | Hutchins | 5 | 2. | Duncan | 2.49 | 2. | Hutchins | 40 | ||
3. | Knapschaefer | 3 | 3. | Hutchins | 2.58 | 3. | Peterson | 29 | ||
Peterson | 3 |
All-Time Series: Ohio Northern leads the all-time series with Mount Union by a 65-45-1 margin, including a 33-21 mark in Ada … The teams split a doubleheader in Ada last season with UMU winning 8-5 in Game 1 and ONU winning 10-8 in Game 2.
Head Coach Gene Stechschulte: Stechschulte is in his 12th season at the helm of the Ohio Northern baseball team … He has a 250-185 record, a winning percentage of .575.