Season Preview: Baseball undergoing a youth movement in 2022
By Wes Mayberry
ADA — The Ohio Northern baseball team enters its 2022 season with a young roster, but 11th-year head coach Gene Stechschulte is excited about the group's potential.
"This will be the first season since my first year at ONU that there's going to be question marks at most of the positions," Stechschulte said. "There's a mix of excitement and not knowing how things are going to work out because we haven't seen many of our younger guys in games yet. It'll certainly be different, but with that comes excitement."
The Polar Bears return 18 lettermen from last year's team that finished with a 21-15 overall record, including a 20-11 mark and third-place finish in the Ohio Athletic Conference en route to earning a spot in the quarterfinals of the OAC Tournament.
Northern's 2022 roster consists of five seniors, nine juniors, 10 sophomores and 22 freshmen and is headlined by the return of four All-OAC honorees from 2021 in seniors Corey McMann (Flower Mound, Texas/Liberty Christian), Chayten Overholt (Delphos/Lincolnview) and Tom Pitko (Youngstown/Austintown-Fitch) and junior Jacob Wenning (Coldwater).
"All four of those guys are going to have to be leaders," Stechschulte said. "They've all had really good careers so far, and we're really going to rely on them with us having a younger team this year."
Here is a preview of the 2022 Ohio Northern baseball team, by position group.
Infield
Overholt leads the Polar Bear infield in 2022 as the returning starter at shortstop. A three-year letterman, Overholt was named to the All-OAC Second Team and earned Academic All-OAC honors last season after leading ONU in batting average (.382), runs scored (36), hits (55), and triples (4). He tied for the OAC lead in triples and ranked ninth in the league in batting average. Overholt, a career .320 hitter, ended his junior season on a five-game hitting streak and enters 2022 needing just 27 hits to become a member of ONU's 100-Hit Club.
Wenning, a two-year letterman, returns after starting 31 games at third base and earning All-OAC Honorable Mention honors a season ago when he hit .351 with nine doubles.
Sophomore Logan Stevens (Plain City/Jonathan Alder) made 23 starts in 2021, hitting .253 with three home runs.
Junior Nick Rothmann (Westerville/Columbus Academy) and sophomore Derek Foe (Johnstown/Johnstown-Monroe) also return after seeing action in nine and six games, respectively, last season.
Juniors Sutton Bucci (Lewis Center/Olentangy) and Carter Comisford (Granville/Northridge) round out the returnees in the infield.
They are joined by freshmen Ethan Brennan (Painesville/Riverside), Sam Harrison (Perrysburg/St. Francis de Sales), Elliott Veenstra (Findlay/Liberty-Benton) and Ethan Heist (Cincinnati/Sycamore).
"The left side of the infield is set with probably one of the best left sides around," Stechschulte said. "On the right side, we could use multiple guys at both spots depending on who plays well."
Outfield
As a returning All-OAC First Team selection, McMann highlights the Polar Bears' group of outfielders for 2022. A three-year starter in right field, McMann has a .330 career batting average with 112 hits. He set the ONU single-season record with an OAC-leading 20 doubles last season and ranks ninth in program history with 30 career doubles. His 43 RBIs tied him for fourth in the OAC last year, and that total is the sixth-best single-season mark in program history. He also led ONU and tied for fifth in the OAC with six home runs in 2021.
Sophomore Dakota Durick (New Castle, Ind.) returns after hitting .300 in his 17 appearances, including two starts, in center field a season ago.
The remainder of the Polar Bears' outfield group consists of sophomore A.J. Brown (Lima/Shawnee) and freshmen Derek Jackson (Roaming Shores/Grand Valley), Joey Kennedy (Sterling Heights, Mich./Foley Catholic), Sam Sells (Columbus/Olentangy Orange) and Ethan Spears (Oregon/Clay).
"We've got Corey in right field, and the other two spots are going to be filled with two guys per day that haven't played," Stechschulte said. "There are a bunch of guys in the mix, none of which have a whole lot of at-bats. So it'll be wide open for center field and left field."
Pitchers
Pitko, a two-year letterman coming off a Second Team All-OAC season, returns to lead Northern's pitching staff in 2022. He posted a 7-3 record a year ago along with a 2.54 ERA and 40 strikeouts over 63.2 innings spanning 10 appearances. He ranked fourth in the OAC in both wins and ERA.
Another two-year letter winner, junior Tim Knapschaefer (Maria Stein/Marion Local) earned Academic All-OAC honors in 2021 when he tallied 23 strikeouts over nine appearances, including four starts, in 25.2 innings of work.
Junior Austin Mathews (Washington Court House/Miami Trace) made 10 appearances in relief in 2021, posting a 2-0 record.
Other returning relievers include senior Jon Hillberry (Lancaster/Fairfield Union) and sophomores Kaidan Domer (Orrville), Hayden Heche (Fort Wayne, Ind./Northrop), Austin Hunter (Canal Fulton/Northwest), Tyler Tierno (Painesville/Lake Catholic) and Noah Truax (Lewis Center/Bishop Watterson).
Sophomore Jacob Rust (Dublin/Coffman) and freshmen Blake Altaffer (Montpelier), Jack Ballas (Strongsville), Zach Claiborne (Springboro/Archbishop Alter), Brady Corbitt (Plain City/Jonathan Alder), Vaughn Duncan (Springfield), Alex Gwyn (Macomb, Mich./Dakota), Logan Hunn (Westerville/South), Kyle Lawrence (Valparaiso, Ind.), Kaiden Morris (Hamilton/Fairfield), Blake Peterson (Belle Center/Benjamin Logan), Zach Ruschell (Cincinnati/Milford) and Joe Tootle (Powell/Olentangy Liberty) round out the Polar Bears' pitchers for 2022.
"With our pitching, we don't have a whole lot of upperclassmen, but I'm confident in the guys we have in the junior and senior class," Stechschulte said. "We're just going to need a lot of the sophomores and freshmen to step up to fill innings, and they certainly have the capability to do so."
Catchers
Northern boasts multiple catchers with starting experience on this year's roster.
Senior Sam Zeleznik (Hinckley/Highland), a three-year letterman, has made 27 starts at the position, and junior Nate Webb (Bath, Ind./Union County), a two-year letter winner, has 22 starts to his name.
Webb, a 2021 Academic All-OAC selection, hit .277 with three home runs and 13 RBIs last season, while Zeleznik hit .244 with six RBIs.
The Polar Bears' returning catchers also include junior Jack Hutchins (Bright, Ind./East Central), who started five games in 2021, as well as junior Vinny Sclafani (Oak Brook, Ill./Hinsdale Central).
They are joined by freshmen Hunter Kauser (Paulding/Exempted Village) and Andrew Stechschulte (Findlay).
"At catcher, we have a bunch of different guys who do different things well," Stechschulte said. "So it's a matter of how we mix and match depending on their offensive and defensive contributions."
Schedule
The Polar Bears open their 2022 season on March 6 as they begin a nine-game set in the RussMatt Invitational in Florida.
"Those games will help us figure out what we've got," Stechschulte said. "With so many new guys, that will be a very important spring trip for sure."
ONU's home opener is scheduled for March 20 against Albion (Mich.) a day after the two teams play a doubleheader in Michigan.
The Polar Bears will also host non-conference foes Alma (Mich.), Trine (Ind.), Allegheny (Pa.), Denison, Defiance and Ohio Wesleyan this season.
ONU will play non-conference road games at Ohio Wesleyan, Oberlin, Bluffton and Defiance.
Northern opens OAC play at home against Mount Union on April 2. All conference matchups will be doubleheaders.
The Polar Bears will also host conference foes Otterbein, Muskingum, Capital and Wilmington.
ONU's conference road slate includes matchups at John Carroll, Baldwin Wallace and Heidelberg.
The OAC Tournament is scheduled for May 12-15.