Baseball: Ohio Northern (22-10 Overall, 9-5 OAC) at Muskingum (14-20 Overall, 5-9 OAC)
Saturday, Apr. 28, 2018 - 1 p.m. - Mose Morehead Field - New Concord, Ohio
Saturday's Preview: Saturday's twinbill at Muskingum will play a major role in the Ohio Athletic Conference baseball standings down the final stretch of the regular season ... The Polar Bears are currently tied with Baldwin Wallace for third in the OAC and are one game ahead of Mount Union for the fifth spot ... Northern is looking to make its first OAC Tournament appearance since the 2000 season ... The Polar Bears finished the 2015 campaign tied for second in the OAC, but due to tiebreaker rules, Northern missed the OAC Tournament ... ONU enters the contest winners of three straight, including a double header sweep of nationally-ranked Marietta and a non-conference victory at area-rival Bluffton ... The Polar Bears received votes in the ABCA poll for the second consecutive week ... Senior Hayden Shenefield currently leads the OAC and is the only batter in the conference hitting above .400, with a .422 batting average ... The senior is second on the team with 46 hits, behind junior Luke Klinehoffer's OAC-leading 51 hits ... Klinehoffer is also second on the team and fourth in the OAC, hitting .381 at the plate ... Junior Caleb Thomas currently leads the team with 30 RBI and four home runs ... On the pitchers mound, sophomore Josh Mohr owns an OAC-best 1.18 ERA ... Mohr ranks 14th nationally in the category ... Junior Austin Frey is tied for second in the OAC with six victories on the mound ... Frey is coming off a career day, striking out a career-best 11 batters in his sixth victory of the season in a win over Bluffton ... Sophomore reliever Scott Beaton ranks second on the team and fourth in the OAC with a 2.20 ERA ... Mohr leads the staff with 43 K's while Frey is second on the team with 41 K's ... Senior closer T.J. Storer picked up his ninth save of the season against Bluffton, moving his OAC-leading mark up ... His nine saves are tied for sixth most nationally ... Muskingum enters the contest after dropping a tight 7-6 decision at Ohio Wesleyan ... The Muskies are led offensively by senior Eddie Harper and freshman Matt Stewart ... The duo are tied for first place on the team with 41 hits each ... Harper has a team-high 28 runs scored and owns a team-high .339 batting average ... Junior Marc Ibarra leads the team with 29 RBI, while Stewart and senior Brad Donathan are tied for second with 24 RBI each ... Junior Evan Hinds and freshman Nolan Fernandes lead the pitching staff with four victories each, while senior Kyle Schmitgen leads the team with three saves ... Fernandes leads the team with 43 K's this season, while Hinds' 2.92 ERA leads the staff.
Batting Leaders
| Batting Ave. | Hits | Runs | RBIs | |||||||||||
| 1. | Shenefield | .422 | 1. | Klinehoffer | 51 | 1. | Klinehoffer | 37 | 1. | Thomas | 30 | |||
| 2. | Klinehoffer | .381 | 2. | Shenefield | 46 | 2. | Kasberg | 22 | 2. | Klinehoffer | 23 | |||
| 3. | Kasberg | .343 | 3. | Thomas | 39 | 3. | J. Burkett | 21 | 3. | J. Burkett | 20 |
Pitching Leaders
| Wins | ERA | Strikeouts | Saves | ||||||||||
| 1. | Frey | 6 | 1. | Mohr | 1.18 | 1. | Mohr | 43 | 1. | Storer | 9 | ||
| 2. | Mohr | 4 | 2. | Beaton | 2.20 | 2. | Frey | 41 | 2. | Beaton | 2 | ||
| 3. | Bye | 3 | 3. | Bye | 2.65 | 3. | Schaller | 35 | |||||
| Schaller | 3 |
Series Notes: ONU leads the all-time series by a 36-28 margin ... The two teams split a twinbill in 2017 at Wander Field ... Northern has won four of the last six meetings between the two schools.
Head coach Gene Stechschulte: Stechschulte in his seventh season at ONU with an overall record of 154-110, a winning percentage of .583.