Baseball: Ohio Northern (25-11 Overall) at Ohio Wesleyan (16-19 Overall) and Defiance (4-28 Overall)

Wednesday, May 3, 2023, 4 p.m. – Littick Field, Delaware, Ohio

Thursday, May 4, 2023, 4 p.m. – Rutter Field, Defiance, Ohio

Game Previews: Ohio Northern opens the final week of the regular season with non-conference games at Ohio Wesleyan on Wednesday and Defiance on Thursday … The Polar Bears are currently tied with Marietta for second place in the Ohio Athletic Conference standings and have clinched a spot in the four-team OAC Tournament … Marietta owns the head-to-head tiebreaker over ONU courtesy of a doubleheader sweep on April 2 … ONU is coming off Saturday's 1-0, 6-1 doubleheader sweep of Mount Union … Through 36 games, freshman Chase Armstrong leads ONU with a .374 batting average, followed by junior Logan Stevens (.313) and fifth-year senior Corey McMann (.312) … Armstrong leads the team with 29 runs and ranks sixth in the OAC in home runs … Stevens has a team-high 45 hits and 34 RBIs … Sophomore Joey Kennedy is tied for ninth in the OAC with 14 steals …Sophomore Blake Altaffer leads the OAC with a 1.49 ERA, and senior Jack Hutchins (2.41) is fifth … Altaffer is 7-0 on the season and is tied for second in the OAC in wins … Senior Tim Knapschaefer ranks third in the OAC in strikeouts (63) … Sophomore Vaughn Duncan has an OAC-best seven saves … McMann is ONU's all-time career leader in hits (203) and doubles (49), and he ranks fourth in RBIs (118) and 10th in home runs (18) … Senior Jacob Wenning is tied for 30th all-time at ONU with 140 career hits … Senior Nate Webb has 107 career hits and is tied for eighth all-time in home runs (19) … Stevens has 98 career hits … Knapschaefer has 160 career strikeouts, which ranks 12th in program history … Ohio Wesleyan is coming off dropping both games of a doubleheader to Case Western Reserve on Saturday, 15-8 and 10-2 … OWU fell 17-3 at Ohio Northern on April 27 … On the season, Zane Vitense (.410) and Sammy Stoner (.362) lead the Battling Bishops in batting average … Stoner has a team-high 34 runs, 51 hits and 12 steals … D.J. Neff has a team-best five home runs, and Edrick Padilla leads the team with 31 RBIs … On the mound, Joe Liss is 4-0 with a 5.86 ERA and 23 strikeouts, and Parker Tomlin is 4-4 with a 5.32 ERA and 42 strikeouts ... Defiance is coming off dropping both games of a doubleheader to Mt. St. Joseph on Sunday, 10-2 and 15-3 … On the season, Trent Murdock (.317) and Mitchell Roever (.257) lead the Yellow Jackets in batting average … Murdock leads DC in hits (33), doubles (8) and RBIs (21) … Gunner Gregg has a team-high four home runs … On the mound, Cohen Nies has a team-best 4.70 ERA, and Sam Thombs has a team-high 57 strikeouts.

Ohio Northern Batting Leaders

Ohio Northern Pitching Leaders

All-Time Series: Ohio Northern leads the all-time series with Defiance by a 40-28-1 margin, including a 13-19 mark in Defiance … The teams split two meetings in 2022 with ONU winning 17-6 in Ada and DC winning 6-2 in Defiance … ONU leads the all-time series with Ohio Wesleyan by a 31-27-2 margin, including a 9-18-1 mark in Delaware … The teams last met on April 27 in Ada with ONU getting a 17-3 win.

Head Coach Gene Stechschulte: Stechschulte is in his 12th season at the helm of the Ohio Northern baseball team … He has a 252-185 record, a winning percentage of .577.