Baseball: Ohio Northern (0-0 Overall) at Oberlin (0-0 Overall)
Sunday, Feb. 26, 2023, 11:30 a.m. – Dill Field, Oberlin, Ohio
Sunday's Preview: Ohio Northern opens its 2023 season on Sunday with a doubleheader at Oberlin ... The Polar Bears are coming off a 2022 season that saw them finish 19-21 overall, including 7-11 in the Ohio Athletic Conference ... Northern returns 23 lettermen from last season, including a quartet of All-OAC honorees in seniors Jacob Wenning, Tim Knapschaefer, Nate Webb and Corey McMann ... Wenning earned Second Team All-OAC recognition last season after leading the Polar Bears in hits (57) and ranking second on the team in doubles (15), RBIs (33) and batting average (.352) while adding 33 runs and six home runs ... Wenning joined ONU's 100-Hit Club last season and enters this year with 102 hits, 25 doubles, eight home runs and 58 RBIs as a career .346 hitter ... Webb is coming off a junior season in which he led the team in home runs (10) and RBIs (37) and was second on the team in runs (34) while batting .311 en route to earning All-OAC Honorable Mention status ... Webb is a career .307 hitter with 70 hits, 17 doubles, 13 home runs and 52 RBIs in 66 games at ONU ... McMann is a two-time All-OAC honoree, having earned First Team accolades as a junior and Honorable Mention status last season when he batted .340 with 26 runs, 52 hits, 14 doubles, four home runs and 26 RBIs ... McMann has played in 125 career games at ONU and ranks third in program history in doubles (44), eighth in total bases (251) and ninth in hits (164) ... McMann is a career .333 hitter with 84 runs, 13 home runs and 97 RBIs to his credit ... Knapschaefer was named to the All-OAC Second Team last season after posting a 5-4 record with a 3.83 ERA and 69 strikeouts over 54 innings in 10 starts ... Knapschaefer enters the season just three strikeouts shy of becoming the 29th member of ONU's 100-Strikeout Club ... Knapschaefer has 97 career strikeouts with a 4.31 ERA in 21 appearances, including 14 starts, spanning 85.2 innings ... Other top returners for ONU include juniors Logan Stevens, Dakota Durick, Noah Truax, Hayden Heche and Austin Hunter and sophomores Joey Kennedy and Sam Harrison ... Sunday's doubleheader also marks the 2023 season opener for Oberlin ... The Yeomen finished 7-29 overall last season ... Oberlin is led this season by senior first baseman Max Anastasio, who hit .333 with five home runs and 28 RBIs and earned All-NCAC honors, and sophomore center fielder Jake Blozy, who led team with .379 batting average and 12 steals and earned All-NCAC honors in 2022 ... The Oberlin pitching staff is led by junior Vince Dolcemaschio (3.94 ERA and team-high 47 strikeouts in 2022).
Returning Ohio Northern Batting Leaders (2022 Stats)
| Batting Avg. | Hits | Runs | RBI | |||||||||||
| 1. | Wenning | .352 | 1. | Wenning | 57 | 1. | Webb | 34 | 1. | Webb | 37 | |||
| 2. | McMann | .340 | 2. | McMann | 52 | 2. | Wenning | 33 | 2. | Wenning | 33 | |||
| 3. | Webb | .311 | 3. | Webb | 47 | 3. | McMann | 26 | 3. | Stevens | 29 |
Returning Ohio Northern Pitching Leaders (2022 Stats)
| Wins | ERA (Min. 6 Inn.) | Strikeouts | ||||||||
| 1. | Knapschaefer | 5 | 1. | Truax | 1.86 | 1. | Knapschaefer | 69 | ||
| 2. | Hutchins | 3 | 2. | Heche | 3.71 | 2. | Lawrence | 33 | ||
| Heche | 3 | 3. | Knapschaefer | 3.83 | 3. | Tootle | 26 |
All-Time Series: Ohio Northern leads the all-time series with Oberlin by a 39-3 margin ... The two teams split last year's two games with ONU winning 11-1 in Ada and OC winning 13-3 in Oberlin.
Head Coach Gene Stechschulte: Stechschulte is in his 12th season at the helm of the Ohio Northern baseball team … He has a 227-174 record, a winning percentage of .566.