Baseball opens its OAC schedule with a double header sweep at Baldwin Wallace 3-0 and 6-3

BEREA — The Ohio Northern baseball team began Ohio Athletic Conference play with a double header sweep of Baldwin Wallace 3-0 and 6-3 on Saturday afternoon.

The Basics

• Records: Ohio Northern (13-5 Overall, 2-0 OAC), Baldwin Wallace (7-7 Overall, 0-2 OAC).
• Venue: Fisher Field - Berea, Ohio.

Game One - W, 3-0

• Seniors Blake Peterson (Belle Center/Benjamin Logan) and Blake Altaffer (Montpelier) combined for a 2-hit shutout in the opener.
• Peterson (1-1) pitched 7.0 scoreless innings in which he allowed only a single hit, on his way to picking up his first win of the season. 
• Altaffer pitched 2 shutout innings, allowing only one hit, to pick up the save for the Polar Bears. 
• Ohio Northern opened up the scoring in the 4th on an RBI single by freshman Charlie Oakleaf (New Albany).
• Senior Andrew Stechschulte (Findlay) picked up on an RBI groundout that scored sophomore Evan Russ (Westfield, Ind.) to make it 2-0.
• Oakleaf capped the inning off when he scored on a Yellow Jacket error to make it 3-0. 
• Russ, Oakleaf and sophomore Caleb Click (Maumee/Saint John's) registered ONU's hits on the day, each getting one. 

Game Two - W, 6-3

• The Polar Bear offense got going early in Game 2 on an RBI single by sophomore Devon Morris (Archbold).
• Russ grounded into a fielder's choice which enabled sophomore Kyler Lapp (Hall, Ill./Hall) to score and make it 2-0 in the bottom of the first
• Morris would build the Northern lead in the 3rd on a 3-run home run, making it 5-0 in favor of the Polar Bears. 
• Stechschulte would add to the ONU lead in the 9th when he scored on a passed ball to make it 6-1.
• Senior Joe Tootle (Olentangy Liberty/Powell) (4-0) started on the mound for the Polar Bears, allowing only 1 run in 7 innings of work, on his way to getting the win for the Polar Bears.
• Sophomore Matt Serdinak (Sagamore Hills/Walsh Jesuit) pitched out of an 8th inning jam and finished the ninth to pick up his third save of the season.
• Morris led the Polar Bear offense with 2 hits and 4 RBIs.

Notables

• Baldwin Wallace leads the all-time series against the Polar Bears by a narrow margin of 59-55 after today's results.
• Through 18 games this season, senior Elliott Veenstra (Findlay/Liberty-Benton) leads the Polar Bears with a .452 batting average, going 14-for-31 with 8 RBI.
• Russ is second with a .400 average wth 15 RBI.
• Junior Chase Armstrong (Louisville, Ky./Trinity) has now recorded 95 hits in 92 games. He is also tied for 7th all-time at ONU with 20 career home runs.
• Stechschulte has 92 hits in 104 games.
• Ohio Northern is in its 120th season of baseball. The Polar Bears are 1479-1159-20 all-time, a winning percentage of .560.
• 14th-year head coach Gene Stechschulte is now 291-211 at Ohio Northern for a winning percentage of .588.

Up Next

• The Polar Bears will return to action on Tuesday when they travel to face off at Trine (Ind.) at 4 pm.