Baseball picks up two victories over Suffolk (Mass.) 5-1 and a 5-4 extra inning win in a double header sweep

AUBURNDALE, Fla. — The Ohio Northern baseball team completed another sweep on its Spring Break trip, defeating Suffolk (Mass.) 5-1 and 5-4 on Wednesday.

The Basics

• Records: Ohio Northern (8-3 overall), Suffolk (2-8 overall).
• Venue: Lake Myrtle #7 - Auburndale, Fla.

Game One W, 5-1

• The Polar Bears jumped out to an early 2-0 lead on a sacrifice fly by sophomore Devin Morris (Archbold) and an RBI single by freshman Charlie Oakleaf (New Albany).
• Suffolk thencut the lead to 2-1 in the 6th.
• Northern responded with 3 runs in the bottom half of the inning, which was capped off by a 2-RBI single by Junior Chase Armstrong (Louisville, Ky./Trinity).
• Freshman Jack Saylor (Springboro) threw 7.0 innings, only allowing one run and striking out 9, to pick up the win and improve to 2-0 on the year.

Game Two W, 5-4 9 innings

• ONU took the lead in the top of the 5th on an error that allowed senior Sam Sells (Lewis Center/Oletangy Orange) to score. 
• The Polar Bear offense would keep rolling on an RBI sacrfice bunt by sophomore Kyle Callahan (Brunswick).
• Northern would score again on an RBI by Armstrong, and sophomore Kyler Lapp (Hall, Ill./Hall) stealing home which capped off a 4-run inning. 
• Suffolk forced the game into extras behind a 4-run 7th inning.
• However, Ohio Northern answered in the top of the 9th on a sacrifice fly by freshman Ace Conklin (Cincinnati/Walnut Hills) which retook the lead.
• Senior Blake Peterson (Belle Center/Benjamin Logan) got his first save of the season after a lockdown 9th inning to close the game out.
• Senior Joe Tootle (Powell/Olentangy Liberty) picked up the win for the Polar Bears, improving to 2-0.

Notables

• Northern leads the series all-time against Suffolk 2-0.
• Junior Robbie Reed (Goshen, Ky./Trinity) lead the offense with 3 hits on the day and Armstrong drive in a team high 3 RBIs.
• Through 11 games this season, sophomore Evan Russ (Westfield, Ind.) leads the Polar Bears with a .467 batting average, going 14-for-30 with 12 RBI.
• Senior Andrew Stechschulte (Findlay) now has 91 base hits in 97 career games.
• Junior Chase Armstrong (Louisville, Ky./Trinity) now has 92 base hits in 85 career games.
• Ohio Northern is in its 120th season of baseball. The Polar Bears are 1474-1157-20 all-time, a winning percentage of .560.
• 14th-year head coach Gene Stechschulte is now 286-209 at Ohio Northern for a winning percentage of .577.

Up Next

• The Polar Bears will continue its spring break trip on Friday with a double header contest against Loras (Iowa) beginning at 1 pm.