Baseball takes down No. 11 Mount Union, No. 10 Badwin Wallace to force deciding Game 7 in OAC Tournament

ALLIANCE — The Ohio Northern baseball team defeated No. 11-ranked Mount Union 13-5 and No. 10 Baldwin Wallace 12-7 on Saturday to force a deciding Game 7 in the Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament.

The Basics

• Records: Ohio Northern (29-14 Overall), #11 Mount Union (31-10 Overall), #10 Baldwin Wallace (30-10 Overall).
• Venue: Rafeld-Rogers Field - Alliance, Ohio. 

Game 5 v Mount #11 Union - W, 13-5

• Northern used a 5-run third inning to jump to a 5-1 lead.
• Freshmen Carson Stevens (Wyoming) and Tyler Rinehart (Booneville, Ind.) went 4-5 and 3-6 respectively at the plate. Stevens had 4 RBI and Rinehart had 6.
• Freshman Brayden Windnagel (Etna/Watkins Memorial) started for ONU pitching 7.0 innings while allowing only 3 runs. 
• Stevens got the offense going in the third with an RBI single. Rinehart followed up with a 3-run home run. 
• Senior Andrew Stechschulte (Findlay) wrapped the inning up with an RBI single of his own.
• The Purple Raiders got one run back in the fifth, but Rinehart hit an RBI single to push the lead to 6-2.
• Rinehart hit an RBI double in the eighth, and  junior Evan Russ (Westfield, Ind.) hit an RBI single as part of the 3-run eighth.
• Stevens put an exclamation mark on the game with a 2 RBI single in the ninth to make it 13-5.
• Five Ohio Northern hitters had multi-hit games.

Game 6 v #10 Baldwin Wallace - W, 12-7

• Stechschulte blasted 2 homers in the game to secure 3 RBI.
• A 3-run first inning gave the Polar Bears an early lead. Then a four-run ninth sealed the game for Ohio Northern.
• Junior Kyler Lapp (Hall, Ill.) got ONU on the board with an RBI. Then Stechschulte blasted his first homer of the game to make it 3-0.
• BWU answered in the bottom of the first with 2 runs of its own.
• Stevens picked up another RBI on a single in the third.
• The Yellow Jackets tied the game on a 2-run homer.
• Senior Chase Armstrong (Lousiville, Ky./Trinity) blasted a solo shot in the fifth. Then Stechschulte hit his second homer of the game to make it 6-4.
• Baldwin Wallace scored again in the bottom of the fifth, but pitcher freshman Keegan Campbell (West Chester/Lakota West) worked his way out of a bases loaded jam to keep it 6-5.
• Senior Robbie Reed (Goshen, Ky./Trinity) hit an RBI single to grow the Northern lead to 7-5.
• Junior Kyle Callahan (Brunswick) posted an RBI single in the seventh to put Ohio Northern up 8-6
• Sophomore Ace Cocklin (Cincinnati/Walnut Hills) hit a 2 RBI double and Lapp hit a 2 RBI single to round out the scoring and give ONU a 12-6 lead.

Notables

• ONU is the No. 3 seed, while Mount Union is the No. 1 seed, and Baldwin Wallace is the No.2 seed. 
• This is Northern's fourth straight appearance in the OAC Tournament and sixth in eight years. This is their second straight season appearing in the Tournament final.
• Ohio Northern now leads the all-time series with Mount Union 73-47-1 and trails the series with Baldwin Wallace 56-64.
• Through 43 games this season, Stevens leads the Polar Bears in batting with a .344 average.
• Armstrong is ONU's all-time leader in home runs with 30. He is also second all-time in ONU history in walks (104), is 3rd in RBIs (142), is fifth in doubles (42) and is fourth in runs scored (136).
• Fifth-year senior Andrew Stechschulte (Findlay) (178), Reed (157), Armstrong (157), Lapp (152), and Russ (126) are all members of ONU's 100-Hit Club. 
• Stechschulte is also fourth in ONU history with 43 career doubles and is now sixth with 115 RBI.
• Ohio Northern is in its 121st season of baseball. The Polar Bears are 1523-1183-20 all-time, a winning percentage of .562.
• 15th-year head coach Gene Stechschulte is now 335-234 at Ohio Northern for a winning percentage of .589.

Up Next

• The Polar Bears will take on #10 Baldwin Wallace in a winner take all final game on Sunday at 1 pm at Mount Union.