Each team posts 9-3 victories as Baseball gains split at No. 11 Mount Union in battle of league leaders

ALLIANCE — The Ohio Northern baseball team won the nightcap 9-3 after No. 11 won the opener 9-3 to earn a key road OAC split on Saturday afternoon. 

The Basics

• Records: Ohio Northern (19-8 Overall, 6-2 OAC), #11 Mount Union (23-6 Overall, 8-2 OAC).
• UMU took the opener 9-3 and ONU won the nightcap 9-3.
• Venue: Rafeld-Rogers Baseball Field - Alliance, Ohio.

Game Two - W, 9-3

• Senior Robbie Reed (Goshen, Ky./Trinity) and freshman Carson Stevens (Wyoming) each collected three base hits to lead the Polar Bears to the victory in the nightcap.
• Ohio Northern broke open a scoreless tie with four runs in the fifth and sixth innings to grab a commanding 8-0 lead.
• Freshman Drew Tolfree (East Lansing, Mich./Lansing Catholic) struck out 8 and allowed only four hits and one run in 6.0 innings of work on the hill to grab the win and improve to 5-0 on the season.
• Stevens finished the game 3-for-5 with a double and two RBI.
• Freshman Sammy Roush (Blanchester) was 2-for-3 with three runs scored.
• ONU outhit UMU 17-7 in the contest.

Game One - L, 3-9

• Reed went 2-for-3 with a RBI to lead ONU.
• The Purple Raiders scored twice in the first and third innings to grab an early 4-0 lead.
• Fifth-year senior Andrew Stechschulte (Findlay) and Reed each had RBI singles in the top of the seventh to pull ONU within 4-2.
• Mount Union answered with two runs in the bottom of the seventh and another run in the eighth to lead 9-2.
• Junior Kyle Callahan (Brunswick) hit a sacrificew fly to score freshman Tyler Rinehart (Boonville, Ind./Boonville) in the top of the ninth to wrap up the scoring.
• UMU outhit ONU 13-6 in the opener.

Notables

• Ohio Northern leads the all-time series with Mount Union by a 72-47-1 margin.
• Through 27 games, junior Kyler Lapp (Hall, Ill.) leads the Polar Bears in batting with a .371 average.
• Stevens is second at .355, while Stechschulte is hitting .340 and leads the team with 6 home runs and 26 RBI.
• Senior Chase Armstrong (Lousiville, Ky./Trinity) 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 (155), Reed (142), Armstrong (140), Lapp (136), and junior Evan Russ (Westfield, Ind.) (107) 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 1514-1177-20 all-time, a winning percentage of .561.
• 15th-year head coach Gene Stechschulte is now 326-228 at Ohio Northern for a winning percentage of .587.

Up Next

• The Polar Bears will go back outside of the conference to play at Albion (Mich.) on Sunday.