Armstrong, Stechschulte hit two home runs each as Baseball splits home double header with Otterbein

ADA — The Ohio Northern baseball team split a double header with Otterbein in an Ohio Athletic Conference double header at on a warm and sunny Thursday afternoon.

Otterbein won the opener 9-8 and Ohio Northern took the nightcap 4-1.  

The Basics

• Records: Ohio Northern (15-14 overall, 6-6 OAC), Otterbein (23-8 overall, 9-3 OAC).
• Venue: Wander Field - Ada Ohio.

Game 1 - L, 8-9

• Sophomore Chase Armstrong (Louisville, Ky./Trinity) hit a pair of 2-run home runs in the game.
• Otterbein got an RBI single in the top of the ninth inning to break an 8-8 tie and take a 9-8 lead and held on for the win.
• OU took advantage of three ONU errors to score 5 times in the top of the second to take a 5-0 lead.
• Northern answered with a 2-run home run from Armstrong in the bottom of the fourth and a bases-loaded walk drawn by junior Joey Kennedy (Sterling Heights, Mich./Foley Catholic) in the fifth to get within 5-3.
• Sophomore Robbie Reed (Goshen, Ky./Trinity) and junior Andrew Stechschulte (Findlay) had back-to-back RBI hits in the fifth to tie the game at 5-5.
• The Cardinals regained the lead with three runs in the top of the sixth to go up 8-5.
• But again Northern answered, as freshman Zane Pratt (Piqua) had a run-scoring ground out and Armstrong followed with another 2-run home run in the bottom of the sixth to tie the game at 8-all.
• OU out-hit ONU 12-9 in the game.

Game 2 - W, 4-1

• Stechschulte hit a pair of solo home runs and senior Noah Truax (Lewis Center/Bishop Watterson) threw 8.0 strong innings on the hill for the Polar Bears.
• Stechschulte homored in the bottom of the fourth to give the Polar Bears a 2-1 lead.
• Armstrong added a run in the bottom of the seventh when he singled home Kennedy to make it 3-1.
• Stechschulte added a second solo home run in the bottom of the eighth to increase the lead to 4-1.
• Truax scattered nine hits while striking out 10 and allowing only one run to earn the win and improve to 3-2 on the year.
• Junior Blake Peterson (Belle Center/Ben Logan) threw a scoreless ninth to earn his second save of the season.
• ONU out-hit OU 10-9 in the nightcap.

Notables

• Armstrong finished the day 3-for-9 with his 2 home runs and 5 RBI.
• Stechschulte was 4-for-8 with 2 runs, 2 home runs and 2 RBI.
• Junior Sam Sells (Lewis Center/Olentangy Orange) was 4-for-7 on the afternoon.
• Sells and Kennedy lead the team through 29 games with a .397 batting averages.
• Stechschulte leads the team with 37 hits and is tied with Armstrong for the team lead with 6 home runs each.
• Armstrong leads the squad with 35 RBI and a .615 slugging percentage.
• Ohio Northern is now 61-71 all-time against Otterbein, including a 30-36 record at home and a 21-25 mark at Wander Field.
• Ohio Northern is in its 119th season of baseball. The Polar Bears are 1456-1151 all-time, a winning percentage of .558.
• 13th-year head coach Gene Stechschulte is now 268-203 at Ohio Northern for a winning percentage of .569.

Up Next

• The Polar Bears will return to action on Saturday with an OAC double header at home against Capital.