Baseball ties school record with third consecutive shutout as six different pitchers combine as to blank Defiance 5-0

ADA — Six different pitchers combined to throw a 4-hit shutout to lift the Ohio Northern baseball team to a school record-tying third consecutive shutout with a 5-0 victory over Defiance on a chilly Wednesday afternoon.  

The Basics

• Records: Ohio Northern (18-14 overall), Defiance (6-23 overall).
• Venue: Wander Field - Ada Ohio.

Game Highlights

• Senior Noah Truax (Lewis Center/Bishop Watterson) threw the first two innings, freshman Matt Serdinak (Sagamore Hills/Walsh Jesuit) threw one inning, fifth-year senior Jack Hutchins (Bright, Ind./East Central) came on for two frames, junior Jack Ballas (Strongsville) threw one inning, junior Blake Peterson (Belle Center/Benjamin Logan) threw two innings and senior Kaidan Domer (Orrville) pitched a perfect ninth inning to complete the shutout.
• Freshman Evan Russ (Westfield, Ind.) went 3-for-4 with a 2-run home run to lead ONU's offense.
• Senior Logan Stevens (Plain City/Alder) smacked a solo home run in the bottom of the second to give Northern an early 1-0 lead.
• Junior Sam Sells (Lewis Center/Olentangy Orange) scored on a sac fly by freshman Kyle Callahan (Brunswick) to make it 2-0 in the fifth.
• Junior Andrew Stechschulte (Findlay) doubled home Stevens in the sixth to increase the lead to 3-0.
• Russ then added two insurance runs in the eighth with his home run.
• ONU out-hit DC 9-4.

Notables

• This was just the third time in school history that Ohio Northern has posted three consecutive shutouts, and its first since since 1975.
• Northern has not allowed a run in 33.2 innings.
• In 1975, the Polar Bears swept a double header with Kenyon and followed that with a shutout of Findlay three days later.
• The only other time it happened was when ONU's 1908 squad threw consecutive shutouts at Capital, at home against Western Reserve and at home against Capital over a 2-week span.
• Junior Joey Kennedy (Sterling Heights, Mich./Foley Catholic), Sells and Stechschulte lead the team in hitting through 31 games with averages of .394, .360 and .349, respectively.
• Stechschulte leads the team with 44 hits and is tied with Sophomore Chase Armstrong (Louisville, Ky./Trinity) for the team lead with 6 home runs each.
• Armstrong also leads the squad with 39 RBI and a .602 slugging percentage.
• Ohio Northern is now 43-28-1 all-time against Defiance, including a 27-8-1 record at home and a 17-4-1 mark at Wander Field.
• Ohio Northern is in its 119th season of baseball. The Polar Bears are 1459-1151 all-time, a winning percentage of .559.
• 13th-year head coach Gene Stechschulte is now 271-203 at Ohio Northern for a winning percentage of .572.

Up Next

• The Polar Bears will return to action on Thursday afternoon at home against area-rival Bluffton at 4:15.