Season Review: Baseball makes big strides, earns OAC Tournament berth in 2023
By Wes Mayberry
ADA — After finishing with a sub-.500 record in 2022, the Ohio Northern baseball team showed significant improvement in 2023 under 12th-year head coach Gene Stechschulte.
The Polar Bears were 27-15 this season, marking an eight-win improvement from a year ago, and qualified for the four-team Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament as the No. 3 seed with a 12-6 mark in conference play. In the tournament, Northern defeated top-seeded No. 9 Baldwin Wallace to eliminate the Yellow Jackets from championship contention before falling to No. 12 Marietta to close the season.
"We found a way to win many close games against a very good schedule," Stechschulte said. "This certainly wasn't always the most talented team on the field, but I am pleased that we finished as well as we did in the toughest league in the country."
ONU opened the 2023 season by winning two of three games against Oberlin and then going 8-4 at the RussMatt Invitational during its spring break trip in Florida. The Polar Bears began conference play with a doubleheader split at then-No. 3 Baldwin Wallace before finding their groove in April to the tune of a 13-4 mark during the month, which included a seven-game win streak. A doubleheader sweep of eventual OAC Tournament champion John Carroll during that stretch helped the Polar Bears in securing a third-place finish in the conference.
Several student-athletes were instrumental in the Polar Bears' success in 2023 as demonstrated by the team's six All-OAC selections. Senior pitcher Jack Hutchins (Bright, Ind./East Central) and sophomore catcher Andrew Stechschulte (Findlay) led the way as All-OAC First Team honorees. Freshman first baseman Chase Armstrong (Louisville, Ky./Trinity) and sophomore pitcher Blake Altaffer (Montpelier) were named to the Second Team, and senior pitcher Tim Knapschaefer (Maria Stein/Marion Local) and junior outfielder Logan Stevens (Plain City/Jonathan Alder) were Honorable Mention selections.
Hutchins capped his season as an All-America Fifth Team selection from D3baseball.com after he and Altaffer earned All-Region 7 honors from both D3baseball.com and ABCA/Rawlings. Hutchins was named to the D3baseball.com First Team and ABCA/Rawlings Second Team, and Altaffer earned Second Team recognition from D3baseball.com and Third Teams honors from ABCA/Rawlings.
Hutchins finished the season with a 7-2 record and ranked third in the OAC with a 1.91 ERA. In 66 innings spanning 12 appearances, including nine starts, Hutchins racked up 59 strikeouts, which ranked ninth in the OAC. In four years at ONU, Hutchins has a career 4.25 ERA and 75 strikeouts in 27 appearances spanning 84.2 innings.
"I could not be happier for the season that Jack had," Stechschulte said. "This is the first year that he has really focused on pitching, and it was awesome to work with someone that has such a desire to compete and get better."
Altaffer finished the 2023 season with an 8-1 record and one save to go with a 2.19 ERA and 40 strikeouts in 11 appearances, including seven starts, spanning 53.1 innings. His season highlight was a complete-game five-hitter with eight strikeouts in a 3-1 win over Cornell (Iowa) on March 15. He tied for third in the OAC in wins and ranked fourth in ERA.
"Blake went from a guy that didn't get any varsity innings as a freshman to being an elite pitcher," Stechschulte said. "Like Hutchins, he really listens and works every day to get better. He really elevated his game, and is never scared. I enjoy coaching guys with that mindset."
Stechschulte posted a .238 batting average, 30 hits, eight doubles, one triple, 13 RBIs, 16 runs and eight steals in 37 games, including 35 starts. Defensively, he posted a .982 fielding percentage and .489 caught-stealing percentage, throwing out 23 of 47 base-stealers. In 45 career games at ONU, Stechschulte has a .233 batting average with 34 hits, including nine doubles, to go with 16 RBIs and 21 runs.
"Andrew is an elite defensive catcher," Stechschulte said. "He controls every aspect of the game and makes my job very easy from the pitching coach perspective. There are not many catchers at any level that can match up with him defensively."
Armstrong made a significant impact as a freshman this season, playing in 34 games, including 31 starts, and posting a team-best .360 batting average, 35 runs, 11 doubles and 10 home runs to go with 40 hits, 26 RBIs and eight steals. He tied for third in the OAC in home runs, and the 10 homers are tied for sixth all-time at ONU for a single season. He had three multi-homer games on the year.
"Chase is an absolute joy to coach. He is talented, works hard, is a great teammate and plays with joy and passion," Stechschulte said. "He has the chance to be one of the best players in the country with continued development."
Knapschaefer tallied a team-high 70 strikeouts on the mound to go with a 3-3 record with one save and a 4.63 ERA in 12 appearances, including 11 starts, spanning 56.1 innings. He ranked fifth in the OAC in strikeouts. Knapschaefer is now a two-time All-OAC selection after earning Second Team recognition in 2022. In four seasons at ONU, he is 8-10 with three saves to go with a 4.44 ERA and 167 strikeouts in 33 appearances, including 25 starts, spanning 142 innings. He ranks 12th all-time at ONU in career strikeouts.
"Tim went from being a guy I had to talk into even trying to play at the college level to someone that worked his way into a scholarship at the Division I level next spring," Stechschulte said. "He got everything that he wanted out of his experience at ONU, the most important being setting himself up with an elite mechanical engineering degree."
Stevens batted .306 this season and tallied 52 hits, seven doubles, two triples, seven home runs, 35 RBIs, 26 runs and three steals. He led the team in hits and RBIs and ranked second in home runs. Stevens became the 72nd member of ONU's 100-Hit Club with a pair of hits in an 11-4 win over Defiance on May 4. In 103 games over three seasons at ONU, Stevens has a .281 batting average with 105 hits, 17 doubles, three triples, 14 home runs, 79 RBIs and 63 runs.
"Logan matured as a player this year. He really started to learn how to develop a plan for his at-bats, which translated into being our leading RBI guy this season," Stechschulte said. "There is still another level that he can get to with continued progression."
With three pitchers earning All-Conference accolades, there's no doubt that the pitching staff was a team strength in 2023. Northern finished with a team ERA of 3.81, getting solid supplementary contributions from sophomores Vaughn Duncan (Springfield) and Blake Peterson (Belle Center/Benjamin Logan) and junior Noah Truax (Lewis Center/Bishop Watterson).
Duncan posted a 2.55 ERA and an OAC-best seven saves, which ranks sixth all-time at ONU for a single season. Peterson was 3-0 with a 3.62 ERA and 33 strikeouts, and Truax tallied 30 strikeouts in 11 appearances, including seven starts.
Offensively, the Polar Bears batted .280 as a team in 2023, finishing with 400 hits, including 76 doubles, five triples and 36 home runs while stealing 53 bases and scoring 270 runs.
In addition to Armstrong, Stevens and Stechschulte, other top offensive contributors included fifth-year senior Corey McMann (Flower Mound, Tex./Liberty Christian), seniors Nate Webb (Bath, Ind./Union County) and Jacob Wenning (Coldwater), sophomore Joey Kennedy (Sterling Heights, Mich./Foley Catholic) and freshman Robbie Reed (Goshen, Ky./Trinity).
With four hits in the doubleheader sweep of John Carroll on April 15, McMann became ONU's all-time career hits leader. He batted .291 this season with 43 hits, six doubles, one triple, five home runs, 22 RBIs and 21 runs. In 164 games over five seasons at ONU, he has 207 career hits, including a program-record 50 doubles, to go with three triples, 18 home runs, 119 RBIs, 105 runs and 14 steals while batting .323. He ranks fourth all-time in RBIs and 10th in home runs.
Webb became the 71st member of ONU's 100-Hit Club with a four-hit outing in a doubleheader sweep of Capital on April 23. He batted .265 this season with 39 hits, 10 doubles, six home runs, 29 RBIs and 25 runs. In 108 games over four seasons at ONU, Webb has 109 hits, 27 doubles, one triple, 19 home runs, 81 RBIs and 73 runs while batting .291. He is tied for eighth all-time in home runs.
Wenning batted .304 in 2023 with 51 hits, six doubles, one home run, 23 RBIs and 29 runs. In 121 games over four seasons at ONU, he has 153 hits, 31 doubles, two triples, nine home runs, 81 RBIs and 90 runs while batting .330. He ranks 17th all-time in hits.
"Corey, Nate and Jacob have been in the middle of our lineup for many years. While they did not have their best year in 2023, they have certainly made a great imprint on this program," Stechschulte said. "Corey obviously has had a tremendous career while breaking several program records, and Nate has continued his father's legacy as mainstays of ONU Baseball."
Kennedy batted .276 this season with 32 hits, three doubles, 12 RBIs and 27 runs to go with 15 steals, which tied for ninth-best in the OAC. In 58 games over two seasons at ONU, he has 52 hits, 17 RBIs and 40 runs while batting .289 and converting on 25 of his 29 steal attempts.
Reed ranked third on the team with 28 RBIs in 2023 to go with a .232 average, 29 hits, five doubles, one home run, 25 runs and four steals.
Senior Vinny Sclafani (Oak Brook, Ill./Hinsdale Central), junior Corey Jeanor (Indianapolis, Ind./Franklin Central) and sophomores Hunter Kauser (Paulding) and Sam Sells (Lewis Center/Olentangy Orange) also played in 20-plus games in 2023.
The Polar Bears also had success in the classroom this season, earning four College Sports Communicators Academic All-District and six Academic All-OAC accolades. Knapschaefer, Webb, Jeanor and Stechschulte earned CSC Academic All-District recognition. Stechschulte, Webb, Knapschaefer, junior Derek Foe (Johnstown/Johnstown/Monroe) and sophomores Ethan Heist (Cincinnati/Sycamore) and Jack Ballas (Strongsville) were Academic All-OAC honorees.
Stechschulte is excited to see how his team builds off its success from 2023 going into the 2024 season.
"Next season will be a transition year from an offensive perspective, but we will have our most productive guys from this year coming back in different roles. It will be fun to see what the next step is from the pitching side of things after the amazing development we had this year," Stechschulte said. "It's always great to see the guys that listen and work hard in the offseason become more productive the next season."