Baseball: Ohio Northern (7-3 Overall) at Thomas More (Ky.) (2-4 Overall)
Thursday, Mar. 15, 2018 - 4 p.m. - Thomas More Field, Crestview Hills, Kentucky
Preview: The Ohio Northern baseball team will open the northern portion of its 2018 schedule with a contest at Thomas More (Ky.) on Thursday afternoon at Thomas More Field ... Thursday's game is the first of a 3-game series with the Saints this weekend and was moved up from its original scheduled date (Friday, Mar. 16) to beat inclimate weather in the forecast ... The Polar Bears left the RussMatt Invitational in Auburndale, Florida with an impressive 7-3 record, ONU's best mark at the tournament since beginning competing in the tournament in 2016 ... Junior third basemen Luke Klinehoffer led the way offensively for ONU, posting team-highs in hits (17), runs scored (13), RBI (10) and batting average (.415) during Northern's 10-game Florida schedule ... Fellow junior and teammate Caleb Thomas ranked on the team during the trip with 14 hits, eight runs, and a .378 batting average ... Senior Jason Burkett 12 hits, including two doubles, three triples and a home run ... On the pitchers mound, junior Austin Frey posted a 2-0 record during the trip and pitched a team-high 14.0 innings ... Frey also ranked second on the team with 11 K's during the trip ... Sophomore Jack Schaller went 1-0 during the trip in two appearances on the mound and struck out a team-best 17 batters ... Schaller only allowed three hits during his time on the mound and led the team with a 2.00 ERA ... Senior All-American led the way with three saves in the victory and currently leads the OAC in the category ... Thomas More enters the contest after posting a 2-4 record at the RussMatt Invitational in Florida ... Through six games, junior Joshua Boeckmann leads the team with seven hits and is tied for first with senior Tyler Smith and junior Blaise Ostertag with four RBI ... Ostertag and fellow junior Sam Hauer are tied for first on the team with a .333 batting average ... Freshman Jordan Houze leads the pitching staff, throwing 8.0 innings ... Houze and junior Sean Lawrence own the two victories on the mound for the Saints ... Sophomore Griffin Smallwood currently has a team-best seven strikeouts.
Batting Leaders
| Batting Ave. | Hits | Runs | RBIs | |||||||||||
| 1. | Klinehoffer | .415 | 1. | Klinehoffer | 17 | 1. | Klinehoffer | 13 | 1. | Klinehoffer | 10 | |||
| 2. | Thomas | .378 | 2. | Thomas | 14 | 2. | Thomas | 8 | 2. | Burkett | 9 | |||
| 3. | Shenefield | .370 | 3. | Burkett | 12 | 3. | Burkett | 7 | 3. | Thomas | 8 | |||
| Kasberg | 7 |
Pitching Leaders
| Wins | ERA | Strikeouts | Saves | ||||||||||
| 1. | Frey | 4 | 1. | Storer | 1.69 | 1. | Schaller | 45 | 1. | Storer | 14 | ||
| 2. | Mohr | 3 | 2. | Schaller | 3.04 | 2. | Mohr | 35 | |||||
| Frey | 3 | 3. | Mohr | 3.19 | 3. | Frey | 31 |
Series Notes: Northern leads the all-time series between the two schools by a 5-1 margin ... The Polar Bears won two out of three contests in last season's 3-game series.
ONU head coach Gene Stechschulte: Stechschulte in his seventh season at ONU with an overall record of 139-103, a winning percentage of .574.