Baseball: Otterbein (16-11 Overall, 7-3 OAC) at Ohio Northern (13-13 Overall, 4-6 OAC)
Tuesday, April 16, 2019, 1 p.m. — Wander Field, Ada, Ohio
Tuesday's Preview: The Ohio Northern baseball team continues its Ohio Athletic Conference schedule on Tuesday with a doubleheader against Otterbein at Wander Field ... ONU is currently sixth in the OAC and is three games out of qualifying for the 4-team OAC Tournament with league eight games left in the regular season ... The Polar Bears are coming off an 6-2, 6-1 sweep at John Carroll on Saturday ... Strong pitching performances from junior right-handers Jack Schaller and Nate Bye propelled Ohio Northern ... Senior Caleb Thomas went 7-for-10 at the plate on the day for ONU ... Through 26 games, sophomore Michael Rocco leads the Polar Bears and is second in the OAC with a .422 batting average ... He also leads the team with 8 stolen bases and is third with 17 runs scored and 16 RBI ... Senior Luke Klinehoffer tops the team with 39 hits and 20 runs scored and has a .345 batting average ... He ranks second in career doubles with 44, just two behind the school record of 46 by Scott Bush from 1998-2001 ... He is also 5th in base hits (173) ... Thomas is batting .317 and leads the team with 18 RBI ... On the mound, junior Jack Schaller leads the pitching staff with a 4-1 record and a 2.05 ERA ... Klinehoffer, senior Blake Lester and juniors Troy Wagner and Nate Bye have two wins each ... Bye leads the team with 31 strikeouts in 38.2 innings pitched and has allowed only five walks ... The Cardinals enter today's doubleheader coming off a 7-6, 4-7 split with Capital on Saturday ... Sophomore Luke Barber had a walk-off single in the bottom of the 10th to lead CU in the opener ... Matthew Gibson leads Otterbein with a .383 batting average ... Tim Snyder is second at .364 and leads the team with 36 hits and 29 RBI ... Barber is batting .324 with 25 RBI and has team-highs of 8 doubles, 6 home runs and a .598 slugging percentage ... Travis Engard (3-1, 2.37 ERA), Johnny Putnam (3-1, 4.01 ERA) and Collin Hoffman (3-0, 2.01 ERA, 6 saves) lead the pitching staff.
Ohio Northern Batting Leaders:
| Batting Ave. | Hits | Runs | RBIs | |||||||||||
| 1. | Rocco | .422 | 1. | Klinehoffer | 39 | 1. | Klinehoffer | 20 | 1. | Thomas | 18 | |||
| 2. | Burkett | .353 | 2. | Rocco | 38 | P.Buckingham | 20 | 2. | Klinehoffer | 17 | ||||
| 3. | Klinehoffer | .345 | 3. | Thomas | 33 | 3. | Rocco | 17 | 3. | Rocco | 16 |
Ohio Northern Pitching Leaders:
| Wins | ERA (Min. 10 Inn.) | Strikeouts | Saves | |||||||||||
| 1. | Schaller | 4 | 1. | Schaller | 2.05 | 1. | Bye | 31 | 1. | Wagner | 1 | |||
| 2. | Wagner | 2 | 2. | Buda | 2.08 | 2. | Mohr | 20 | Johnson | 1 | ||||
| Klinehoffer | 2 | 3. | Wagner | 3.00 | 3. | Lester | 15 | Mohr | 1 | |||||
| Lester | 2 | Buda | 1 | |||||||||||
| Bye | 2 | Lester | 1 |
All-Time Series Notes: Otterbein leads the all-time series between the two schools by a 59-46 margin ... OU has won the last 4 meetings, including 5-4 and 6-0 victory last season.
ONU Head Coach Gene Stechschulte: Stechschulte is in his eighth season leading the Ohio Northern baseball program with a 172-128 record, a .573 win percentage.