Baseball falls 13-11 in slugfest to UMass-Boston in spring break finale

AUBURNDALE, Fla. — The Ohio Northern baseball team wrapped up its spring break trip with a slugfest, falling 13-11 to UMass-Boston on Sunday.

The Basics

• Records: Ohio Northern (10-4 Overall), UMass Boston (3-4 Overall).
• Venue:  Chain of Lakes #4 - Auburndale, Fla.

The Game

• UMass-Boston struck first with a 3-run fourth inning. 
• With the bases loaded, freshman Sammy Roush (Blanchester) was hit by a pitch driving in a run to make it 3-1 in the bootom of the fourth.
• The Beacons responded with 2 more runs in the top of the fifth pushing their lead to 5-1. 
• Senior Andrew Stechschulte (Findlay) hit an RBI double in the bottom half of the inning and freshman Tyler Rinehart hit a sacrifice fly to bring the Polar Bears within 5-3.
• Once again UM-Boston was able to answer with 2 more runs in the sixth to go up 7-3. 
• Freshman Carson Stevens (Wyoming) and junior Kyler Lapp (Hall, Ill.) kicked off a sixth inning rally with back to back RBI singles to make it 7-5. Senior Chase Armstrong (Louisville, Ky./Trinity) hit a sacrfice fly to cut the ONU defecit to a single run. 
• In a decisive seventh inning, UMB piled on 6 runs to grow its lead to 12-6. 
• Junior Kyle Callahan (Brunswick) hit an RBI triple and Roush knocked him in to bring the game to 12-8.
• The Beacons were once again able to respond and made it 13-8 in the eighth.
• Rinehart launched a 3-run home run in the bottom of the frame to cut the Northern defecit to 13-11.
• UMass Boston out hit ONU 17-11.

Notables

• Rinehart led the Polar Bears offensively, going 3-4 at plate with 4 RBIs and also scoring 2 runs. 
• The Polar Bears wrap up their 11-game spring break trip with a 7-4 record.
• This is the first matchup between these teams.
• Lapp leads the team this season with a .452 batting average, 17 RBIs, and 10 extra base hits.
• Armstrong is tied for 4th all-time in ONU history in home runs (26), is fifth in doubles (38) and RBIs (123), and is 7th in walks (88). 
• Stechschulte (133), Armstrong (132), senior Robby Reed (Goshen, Ky./Trinity) (131) and Lapp (122) are all members of ONU's 100-Hit Club. 
• Ohio Northern is in its 121st season of baseball. The Polar Bears are 1505-1173-20 all-time, a winning percentage of .562.
• 15th-year head coach Gene Stechschulte is now 317-224 at Ohio Northern for a winning percentage of .587.

Up Next

• The Polar Bears will return to action when they return home to host Alma (Mich.) in a doubleheader on Saturday at Noon at Wander Field.