Baseball: Ohio Northern (15-18 Overall) at Bluffton (16-18 Overall)
Thursday, April 28, 2022, 4:15 p.m. – Memorial Field, Bluffton, Ohio
Thursday's Preview: Ohio Northern is traveling to Bluffton on Thursday for a non-conference game at 4:15 p.m. … Northern fell 24-9 at Bluffton earlier this season on April 7 … The Polar Bears are coming off Sunday's 17-6 home win over Defiance in which they amassed 18 hits … Senior Chayten Overholt, junior Jacob Wenning, sophomore Dakota Durick and freshman Ethan Spears finished with three hits each … Overholt had three doubles and three RBIs, Wenning had two doubles and three RBIs, Durick had two doubles, and Spears had three RBIs … Senior Sam Zeleznik added a two-run home run … Freshman pitcher Kyle Lawrence allowed just one hit over the first five innings of the game en route to improving to 2-2 on the season … Through 33 games, Spears leads the team in batting average (.398) and home runs (8) … Spears is tied for third in the OAC in home runs and ranks 11th in batting average … Wenning leads the team in hits (51) and RBIs (29) and is second in batting average (.389) … Wenning and Overholt share the team lead in runs scored (28) … Senior Corey McMann ranks third on the team in batting average (.352) and second in hits (43) … Freshman Joey Kennedy has a team-high nine stolen bases … McMann has 13 doubles this season and ranks third all-time at ONU with 43 career doubles … McMann ranks 16th in program history with 155 career hits, and Overholt has 110 career hits, which is tied for 53rd all-time … Junior pitcher Tim Knapschaefer has a team-high three wins and 48 strikeouts to go with a 3.51 ERA … Knapschaefer ranks fifth in the OAC in ERA and ninth in strikeouts … Heartland Conference member Bluffton enters Thursday's game coming off Wednesday's 5-2 win at Albion (Mich.) … Dylan Gray led the way for the Beavers with 3 hits and 2 RBIs … Ezra Deitering added 2 hits and 2 RBIs … The pitching trio of Seth Altman, Wyatt Groves and Spencer Garrison combined to limit Albion to 4 hits … Jake Baumgartner leads BU with a .353 batting average, 12 doubles and 27 RBIs … On the mound, Andrew Collinsworth has a team-best 3.20 ERA, and Carson Carnutte has a team-high 38 strikeouts.
Ohio Northern Batting Leaders
| Batting Ave. | Hits | Runs | RBI | |||||||||||
| 1. | Spears | .398 | 1. | Wenning | 51 | 1. | Wenning | 28 | 1. | Wenning | 29 | |||
| 2. | Wenning | .389 | 2. | McMann | 43 | 2. | Overholt | 28 | 2. | Webb | 26 | |||
| 3. | McMann | .352 | 3. | Overholt | 37 | Webb | 25 | 3. | Stevens | 24 | ||||
| Spears | 37 | Spears | 24 |
Ohio Northern Pitching Leaders
| Wins | ERA (Min. 6 Inn.) | Strikeouts | ||||||||
| 1. | Knapschaefer | 3 | 1. | Truax | 1.86 | 1. | Knapschaefer | 48 | ||
| Hutchins | 2 | 2. | Knapschaefer | 3.51 | 2. | Lawrence | 31 | |||
| Duncan | 2 | 3. | Heche | 3.96 | 3. | Pitko | 25 | |||
| Heche | 2 | |||||||||
| Truax | 2 | |||||||||
| Lawrence | 2 |
All-Time Series: Ohio Northern leads the all-time series with Bluffton by a 100-40-6 margin, including a 36-21-4 mark on the road … The teams last met earlier this season on April 7 with Bluffton getting a 24-9 home win.
Head Coach Gene Stechschulte: Stechschulte is in his 11th season at the helm of the Ohio Northern baseball team … He has a 223-171 record, a winning percentage of .566.