Baseball: Defiance (6-6 Overall) at Ohio Northern (11-6 Overall)
Wednesday, Mar. 28, 2018 - 4 p.m. - Wander Field - Ada, Ohio
Preview: The Ohio Northern baseball team enters Wednesday afternoon's non-conference contest with Defiance after a convincing 14-3 victory over Trine (Ind.) in its home opener at Wander Field on Monday afternoon ... In that contest, junior Caleb Thomas hit two home runs and junior Luke Klinehoffer and freshman Matthew Burkett also each hit home runs for ONU ... Klinehoffer went 3-for-3 at the plate with three RBI and three runs scored, while Thomas was 2-for-3 with three RBI and three runs scored ... Through 17 games this season, Klinehoffer leads the team in hits (29), batting average (.397), and RBI (17) ... The junior ranks third in the Ohio Athletic Conference in hits, is fifth in conference in batting average and tied for fourth in the OAC in RBI ... Thomas' three home runs this season leads the team and ranks third in the OAC, while senior Jason Burkett is second on the team with two home runs and tied for fourth in the OAC in the category ... Defensively, senior T.J. Storer leads the team and OAC and is tied for third nationally with six saves this season after closing the door in the victory over Trine ... Junior Austin Frey is a perfect 3-0 on the year and tied for fifth in the OAC with three victories ... Sophomore Jack Schaller currently leads the team and ranks fifth in the OAC with 30 strikeouts ... Defiance enters the contest after sweeping a double header with Albion (Mich.) ... Through 12 games for the Yellow Jackets, five athletes have recorded double digit hits, led by junior Troy Konwinski's 14 hits ... Senior Glen Collier and junior Michael Gilliland are tied for second on the team with 13 hits each ... Konwinski leads the team with 11 RBI and Gilliland has a team-best .500 batting average ... On the mound this season, the Yellow Jackets are led by sophomore Jon Brown's three victories ... Brown is tied with Konwinski for the lead on the team with nine K's each.
Batting Leaders
| Batting Ave. | Hits | Runs | RBIs | |||||||||||
| 1. | Klinehoffer | .397 | 1. | Klinehoffer | 29 | 1. | Klinehoffer | 20 | 1. | Klinehoffer | 17 | |||
| 2. | M. Burkett | .393 | 2. | Thomas | 23 | 2. | J. Burkett | 14 | 2. | Thomas | 16 | |||
| 3. | Shenefield | .377 | 3. | J. Burkett | 21 | 3. | Kasberg | 13 | 3. | J. Burkett | 12 | |||
| Thomas | 13 |
Pitching Leaders
| Wins | ERA | Strikeouts | Saves | ||||||||||
| 1. | Frey | 3 | 1. | Mohr | 1.08 | 1. | Schaller | 30 | 1. | Storer | 6 | ||
| 2. | Bye | 2 | 2. | Schaller | 2.50 | 2. | Mohr | 21 | |||||
| Schaller | 2 | 3. | Bye | 3.14 | 3. | Beaton | 18 | ||||||
| J. Burkett | 2 |
Series Notes: Northern leads the all-time series by a 35-24-1 margin ... ONU has won five straight in the series ... The last Yellow Jacket victory came in 2011.
ONU head coach Gene Stechschulte: Stechschulte in his seventh season at ONU with an overall record of 143-106, a winning percentage of .574.