Former Major League pitcher Gene Stechschulte is in his second season as head baseball coach at Ohio Northern University.

Stechschulte is the 24th head coach in ONU baseball history, but is just the fifth head coach since 1971.

He also serves as a lecturer in the human performance and sports sciences department at ONU.

Stechschulte guided the Polar Bears to a 15-23 record in his first season at the helm in 2012.

The Kalida native enjoyed a 4-year career with the St. Louis Cardinals from 2000-03 after an All-American career at Ashland University.

He also served as head coach of the Lima Locos, a summer collegiate league team.

Stechschulte made his major league debut on April 20, 2000, against the San Diego Padres. He struck out the first batter he faced, Mike Darr, to begin his career in style.

In four seasons, he was 8-7 with six saves, a 4.58 ERA and 84 strikeouts in 116 appearances out of the bullpen.

He had a 0.00 ERA in two post-season appearances with the Cardinals in the 2001 National League Divisional Series.

His best season came in his final year of 2002 when he was 6-2 with a 4.78 ERA in 29 games.

Stechschulte also has the distinction of being the 16th major league player in history to hit a home run on the first pitch seen in a MLB game.

He hit a 2-run home run as a pinch-hitter off of Armando Reynoso in the bottom of the 6th inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks on April 17, 2001.

He is a 3-time Minor-League All-Star and won the Midwest League’s Best Relief Pitcher Award when he had a 2.59 ERA and 33 saves for the Single-A Peoria Chiefs that year.

Stechschulte graduated first in his class from Ashland School of Business and Economics, Summa Cum Laude, in 1996.

He was a 1st Team All-American and Academic All-American as a shortstop.

He was Regional Player of the Year and set school records for Total Bases, Home Runs and RBI, leading Ashland to its first ever NCAA Division II World Series appearance in 1995.

His 15 home runs and 143 total bases are still the third-best single-season marks in AU history.

Stechschulte guided the Locos to a 32-15 record in 2011 and the Great Lakes League title. As head coach, he is 121-73-1 in five seasons overall as a head coach with the Locos and the Ottawa American Legion Post 63 team.

In addition to his extensive playing and coaching credentials, Stechschulte has either coached or instructed more than 40 players that have gone on to play professional baseball.

Gene and his wife Krista have a son, Andrew (9), and two daughters, Katelyn (7) and Ava (2).

He is a graduate of Kalida High School and resides in Findlay.

Chad Ehrnsberger is in his first season as head men's golf coach and is in his second season as assistant baseball coach for the Polar Bears.

A scratch golfer, Ehrnsberger was a four-time state qualifier at Kalida High School in northwest Ohio and was named First Team All-Ohio in his prep career.

He also competes regularly in the Columbus District Golf Association and was active in the American Junior Golf Association.

Ehrnsberger brings a wealth of baseball experience to the Northern program from his time in college and the minor leagues.

Ehrnsberger played infield for Ohio State for three seasons before transferring to the University of Central Florida for the 2001 season. He returned to Ohio State in 2009 to complete his bachelor’s degree after his time in the minor league system.

His collegiate awards include being a four-time All-American, First Team Academic All-American and Big Ten Scholar Athlete.

Most recently, Ehrnsberger played third base for the Calgary Vipers in the summer of 2011. It was his ninth season in the minor leagues and also played under the Seattle Mariners, St. Louis Cardinals and several Independent baseball organizations.

During his time in the minor leagues, Ehrnsberger was a five-time All-Star and accumulated a career batting average over .300 with 91 home runs.  His teams also made the playoffs in six of his nine seasons.

His coaching experience includes being a volunteer assistant coach for Westerville Central and Kalida High Schools, head coach of the Frozen Ropes travel baseball team in Tampa, Fla., founder and head coach of a Division I travel baseball organization in Columbus, and also an instructor for kids of all ages.

“Chad is a perfect fit for our program. He brings a great deal of academic and athletic experience to our staff,” head coach Gene Stechschulte said. “With this addition, our coaching staff is on par with every other staff in the region and we are excited to get started.”

Ehrnsberger is a Kalida native and currently resides in Columbus.

Matt Rau is in his secondyear as an assistant coach for the Ohio Northern baseball team.

Rau brings experience as an associate head coach of the Ottawa American Legion Post 63 baseball team from 2008 to 2010, as well as an assistant coach for Fort Jennings High School from 2004 to 2010.

During his tenure in both of those positions, Rau coached numerous student athletes who continued their baseball careers collegiately.

Rau was also a volunteer fall season assistant coach at Bluffton from 2006 to 2007.

He earned his bachelor’s degree in history from Bluffton in 2009.

In addition to his duties as a coach for ONU, Rau is also currently an associate scout for the Arizona Diamondbacks.

He, along with his wife Melissa and children Ryan (17) and Erica (12), reside in Fort Jennings.