Baseball edges area-rival Bluffton in 10 innings, 8-7

BLUFFTON — Junior Andrew Stechschulte (Findlay) scored on a single by freshman Landon Sawyer (Walton, Ky./Ryle) with the go-ahead run in the top of the 10th inning to lead the Ohio Northern baseball team to an 8-7 victory at area-rival Bluffton on a beautiful Tuesday afternoon.

The Basics

• Records: Ohio Northern (10-13 overall), Bluffton (9-16 overall).
• Venue: Memorial Field - Bluffton, Ohio.

Game Highlights

• Stechschulte led off the top of the 10th with a walk, went to third on the single by Sawyer and scored on an error by the BU left fielder to put ONU ahead 8-7.
• Junior Sam Thombs (Detroit, Mich./Lutheran) came on in the bottom of the tenth and worked out of a two-on, two-out jam to pick up his first career save.
• Stechschulte finished the day 2-for-3 with a home run, a double, 3 runs scored and 3 RBI in the game.
• Junior Brady Corbitt (Plain City/Alder) got the final out in the bottom of the ninth after the Beavers had scored twice to tie the game at 7-7 to earn his first career win.
• Northern scored three times in the top of the sixth and seventh innings to rally from a 2-1 deficit to take a 7-2 lead.
• Bluffton picked up three runs in the bottom of the seventh to get within 7-5 and tied it in the ninth to send the game into extra innings.
• BU out-hit ONU 9-8 in the game.

Notables

• Ohio Northern is now 103-41-6 all-time against Bluffton, including a 37-21-4 record at Bluffton.
• Juniors Joey Kennedy (Sterling Heights, Mich./Foley Catholic) and Sam Sells (Lewis Center/Olentangy Orange) lead the team through 23 games this season with batting averages of .447 and .380, respectively.
• Ohio Northern is in its 119th season of baseball. The Polar Bears are 1452-1150 all-time, a winning percentage of .558.
• 13th-year head coach Gene Stechschulte is now 264-202 at Ohio Northern for a winning percentage of .567.

Up Next

• The Polar Bears will return to action on Wednesday with a 1 pm double header at OAC foe Wilmington.