Baseball falls to No. 10 Baldwin Wallace in deciding Game 7 of OAC Tournament 5-1
May 10, 2026
ALLIANCE — The Ohio Northern baseball team fell in the final game of the Ohio Athletic Conference tournament to No. 10-ranked 10 Baldwin Wallace 5-1, falling just short of a tournament title.
The Basics
- Records: Ohio Northern (29-15 Overall), #10 Baldwin Wallace (31-10 Overall).
- Venue: Rafeld-Rogers Field - Alliance, Ohio.
Game 7 v #10 Baldwin Wallace - L, 5-1
- Senior Andrew Stechschulte (Findlay) continued his red hot hitting performance in the tournament with a 3-4 game at the plate.
- Sophomore Ace Cocklin (Cincinnati/Walnut Hills) led off the game with a single, stole second base and scored on an RBI single by junior Kyler Lapp (Hall, Ill.) to give the Polar Bears a quick 1-0 lead.
- The Yellow Jackets answered in the bottom of the second with 2 runs to grab a 2-1 lead.
- Baldwin Wallace added some cushion to their lead in the fifth with 3 runs to go up 5-1.
- ONU managed to get 2 runners on in the top of the ninth, but BW would get out of the jamp and hang on for the win.
- The hits were even at 10-10.
Notables
- Stechschulte and freshmen Tyler Rinehart (Boonville, Ind.), Carson Stevens (Wyoming) and Drew Tolfree (East Lansing, Mich./Lansing Catholic) were named to the All-Tournament Team.
- ONU was the No. 3 seed and Baldwin Wallace was the No. 2 seed.
- This is Northern's fourth straight appearance in the OAC Tournament and sixth in eight years. This was their second straight season appearing in the Tournament final.
- Ohio Northern now trails the series with Baldwin Wallace 65-56.
- In 44 games this season, Stechschulte led the Polar Bears in batting with a .345 average, 42 runs scored, 10 home runs and 39 RBI.
- Stevens was second at .342 and Lapp was third at .335.
- Senior Chase Armstrong (Lousiville, Ky./Trinity) finishes as ONU's all-time leader in home runs with 30. He is also second all-time in ONU history in walks (104), is 3rd in RBIs (142), is fifth in doubles (42) and is fourth in runs scored (136).
- Stechschulte (181), senior Robbie Reed (Goshen, Ky./Trinity)(158), Armstrong (159), Lapp (153), and junior Evan Russ (Westfield, Ind.) (126) are all members of ONU's 100-Hit Club.
- Stechschulte is also fourth in ONU history with 43 career doubles and is now sixth with 115 RBI.
- Ohio Northern finished its 121st season of baseball. The Polar Bears are 1523-1184-20 all-time, a winning percentage of .562.
- 15th-year head coach Gene Stechschulte is now 335-235 at Ohio Northern for a winning percentage of .589.
Up Next
- The Polar Bears will now to see if they receive one of the 23 at-large bids to the NCAA III Tournament. The bracket will be announced Monday on NCAA.com.
