Baseball sweeps Otterbein 9-7 and 4-3 to extend winning streak to six

ADA — The Ohio Northern baseball team extended its winning streak to six games with a double header sweep over Otterbein on Wednesday. ONU won the opener 9-7 and a took a 4-3 walkoff win in game two. 

The Basics

• Records: Ohio Northern (18-7 Overall, 5-1 OAC), Otterbein (3-21 Overall, 1-7 OAC).
• Venue: Wander Field - Ada, Ohio.

Game One - W, 9-7 

• Freshman Tyler Rinehart (Boonville, Ind./Boonville) smashed 2 home runs in the contest.
• Jarrett Haan (Findlay/Liberty-Benton) pitched a solid 6.0 innings of work while only allowing 3 earned runs to pick up the win on mound and improve to 3-1 on the season.
• ONU's offense rode a 3-run first inning followed by a run in the second and 2 in the third to build a 6-4 lead. 
• Senior Chase Armstrong (Lousiville, Ky./Trinity) drove in the first run on an RBI walk. Junior Evan Russ (Westfield, Ind.) and fifth-year senior Andrew Stechschulte (Findlay) picked up an RBI each to close out the inning's offense. 
• The Cardinals offense stormed back with 4 runs in the top of the second to take the lead. 
• Junior Kyler Lapp (Hall, Ill.) hit a sacrifcie fly RBI to answer and knot the game at 4-4 after to innings.
• Rinehart homered in the third and then again in the fifth to put ONU back on top 7-4. 
• Stechschulte picked up his 2nd RBI on the day with an RBI double in the sixth. 
• A 2-run homer for Otterbein made it 9-7 in the top of the ninth, but freshman Ben Chinchar (North Ridgeville) shut the door on the comeback attmept on his way to picking up his first save of the season. 

Game Two - W, 4-3

• Russ blasted a solo homer in the second inning and drove in the winning run, as two of his four hits in the game. 
• Rinehart recorded 2 more RBI to bring his total on the day to 5. 
• Brayden Windnagel (Etna/Watkins Memorial) started on the mound for Northern and tossed 7.1 innings of work while only allowing 3 runs.
• Otterbein struck first in the top of the 2nd, but a homer by Russ and RBI double by Rinehart gave the Polar Bears a 2-1 lead.
• The Cardinals got 2 runs to retake the lead, but Rinehart again answered to tie the game with an RBI in the fifth to tie it back up at 3-3.
• Freshman Carson Stevens (Wyoming) a ripped a leadoff triple in the bottom of the ninth and Russ drove him in with an RBI single one out later for the game-winner.
• OC outhit ONU 21-14 on the day.

Notables

• Ohio Northern trails the all-time series with Otterbein 71-66.
• Stevens leads the team in batting this season through 25 games with a .371 average.
• Lapp is hitting .362, while Stechschuklte leads the team with 6 home runs and 24 RBI.
• Armstrong is the all-time leader in home runs with 29. He is also second all-time in ONU history in walks (96), is 3rd in RBIs (134), is fifth in doubles (39) and is tied for fourth in runs scored (128).
• Stechschulte (153), Armstrong (140), senior Robbie Reed (Goshen, Ky./Trinity) (140), Lapp (134), and Russ (106) are all members of ONU's 100-Hit Club. 
• Stechschulte is also tied for sixth in ONU history with 37 career doubles.
• Ohio Northern is in its 121st season of baseball. The Polar Bears are 1513-1176-20 all-time, a winning percentage of .561.
• 15th-year head coach Gene Stechschulte is now 325-227 at Ohio Northern for a winning percentage of .587.

Up Next

• The Polar Bears will travel to face #11 Mount Union for a double header on Saturday at 1 pm.