Baseball: Ohio Northern (21-14 Overall) - OAC Tournament
Wednesday-Saturday, May 19-22, 2021 - OAC Baseball Tournament at Campus Sites
| OAC Tournament Site | Quarterfinals Game Program (.pdf) |
Tournament Preview: Third-seeded Ohio Northern will host sixth-seeded John Carroll in the Quarterfinals of the OAC Tournament on Wednesday afternoon at 4 pm at Wander Field ... If Northern wins, they will advance to the semifinals and travel to second-seeded Marietta on Thursday ... If John Carroll wins, they will advance and travel to top-seed Marietta on Thursday ... The other quarterfinal between fourth-seeded Baldwin Wallace and fifth-seeded Heidelberg will await their semifinal match up based on the outcome of the ONU-JCU game ... The winners of both semifinal contests will play in a best-of-three championship series for the OAC tournament championship and an automatic berth to the NCAA III Tournament Friday and Saturday ... ONU was the No. 3 seed due to the OAC's seeding procedure which takes winning percentage and opponents' winning percentage into the equation ... Despite finishing one-half game behind BW in the OAC Regular Season standings, ONU had a higher strength of schedule to ultimately earn the No. 3 seed ... A limited number of spectators will be allowed to attend the games based on the OAC's COVID-19 policy ... Each player will receive two admissions each game ... No tickets will be available to the general public ... The Polar Bears were unable to play this weekend due to Covid-19 Protocols and finished the regular season with a 21-14 overall record and 20-11 record in Ohio Athletic Conference ... Ohio Northern has won 9 of 10 and 18 of its last 21 games ... Through 35 games this season, senior Michael Rocco leads the team with a .391 batting average ... Junior Chayten Overholt is second at .368 with a team-best 33 runs scored ... Junior Corey McMann is hitting .364 and has a school-record 20 doubles to go with 6 HRs and 43 RBI ... McMann is tied for fourth in the country in doubles ... Junior Tom Pitko leads the Polar Bears pitching staff with a 7-2 record and a 2.15 ERA to go with 37 Ks ... Senior James Fisher is 5-1 with a 2.25 ERA and senior Nate Bye is 4-2 with a 4.75 ERA and a team-best 38 Ks ... John Carroll lost 3 of 4 to Otterbein last weekend to finish their regular season slate ... Freshman Joe Orlavsky leads the Blue Streaks with a .398 average, and is second with 13 doubles and 37 RBI ... Junior Justin Hanley is third in the OAC with seven home runs ... Junior Henry Haracz leads the team with 54 hits and is second in the OAC with 25 stolen bases ... Junior Mitchell Midea leads the JCU pitching staff with 4.21 ERA across 57.2 innings with an OAC-leading 78 strikeouts and 4 wins.
Ohio Northern Batting Leaders:
| Batting Ave. | Hits | Runs | RBIs | |||||||||||
| 1. | Rocco | .391 | 1. | McMann | 56 | 1. | Overholt | 33 | 1. | McMann | 43 | |||
| 2. | Overholt | .368 | 2. | Overholt | 53 | 2. | Rocco | 29 | 2. | Burkett | 26 | |||
| 3. | McMann | .364 | 3. | Burkett | 44 | McMann | 29 | 3. | Thwaits | 23 |
Ohio Northern Pitching Leaders:
| Wins | ERA | Strikeouts | Saves | |||||||||||
| 1. | Pitko | 7 | 1. | Pitko | 2.15 | 1. | Bye | 38 | 1. | Johnson | 5 | |||
| 2. | Fisher | 5 | 2. | Fisher | 2.25 | 2. | Pitko | 37 | 2. | Truax | 2 | |||
| 3. | Bye | 4 | 3. | Bye | 4.75 | 3. | Fisher | 31 | 3. | Fisher | 1 | |||
| Knapschaefer | 1 | |||||||||||||
| Matthews | 1 |
All-Time Series: John Carroll leads the all-time series between the schools by a 35-28-1 margin ... ONU is 16-14-1 v JCU at home ... JCU won 2 of 3 earlier in the year ... ONU won the only OAC tournament match up 13-7 in 2000.
Head Coach Gene Stechschulte: Stechschulte is in his 10th season at the helm of the Ohio Northern baseball team … He has a 208-152 record, a winning percentage of .578.