Devon Morris smacks two home runs as Baseball splits a doubleheader with John Carroll

ADA — The Ohio Northern baseball team split a pair with John Carroll, bolstered by a great day at the plate by sophomore Devon Morris (Archbold) on Saturday afternoon. ONU won the opener 11-6 and fell in the nightcap 10-5.

The Basics

• Records: Ohio Northern (21-7 Overall, 9-1 OAC), John Carroll (17-11 Overall, 7-5 OAC).
• Venue: Wander Field - Ada, Ohio.

Game One - W, 11-6

• Northern's offense struck first in the 2nd on an RBI double by senior Andrew Stechschulte (Findlay).
• Junior Robbie Reed (Goshen, Ky./Trinity)  would bring in Freshman Charlie Oakleaf (New Albany) with the bases loaded to make it 2-0.
• John Carroll answered with 4 runs in the 4th inning and took the lead
• Morris scored on a wild pitch in the 4th bringing the Polar Bears within one run.
• The Blue Streaks took back the lead 6-5 in the 6th after a bases loaded single. 
• Morris tied the game up in the 7th inning with a two-out RBI single that scored Lapp to tie the game 6-6. 
• Northern's offense erupted in the 8th, scoring 5 runs.
• Senior Elliott Veenstra (Findlay/Liberty-Benton) started things off with an RBI single, and Pratt would then score on a passed ball
• The exclamation point was a 2-run homer to right field by Morris, which made it 11-6. 
• Senior Jack Ballas (Strongsville) secured the win for Ohio Northern, throwing 2.0 scoreless innings in relief, to pick up his first win of the season.   

Game Two - L, 5-10

• John Carroll struck first grabbing an early 1-0 lead in the 2nd.
• That lead wouldn't last long as Morris homered to lead off the 2nd inning for the Polar Bears, to tie the game 1-1. 
• John Carroll would answer back in the 4th, snagging another run to make it 2-1.
• Morris continued what had already been an impressive day at the plate with an RBI double that tied the game 2-2 in the bottom half of the 4th.
• Northern struck again in the 5th inning on an RBI single by Veenstra which put Ohio Northern up 3-2. 
• JCU tied the game once more in the 6th, and then with the bases loaded secured another run, giving them the lead 4-3. 
• Ohio Northern continued to battle thanks to a 2-out Reed RBI single with runners on first and second, scoring Oakleaf and Stechschulte to regain the lead at 5-4.
• The Blue Streaks retook the lead with 4 runs in the 8th, including a 2-run homer from Ethan Glossa with 2-outs which put them up 8-5. 
• JCU added two more to its lead in the 9th to lead 10-5. 

Notables

• Morris led the ONU offensive attack, going 5-9 at the plate, launching two homers, notching 5 RBI's, 2 stolen bases, and scoring 4 runs. 
• Ohio Northern now trails in the all-time series 39-33-1 against John Carroll.
• Through 26 games this season, Veenstra leads the Polar Bears with a .409 batting average, going 27-for-66 with 18 RBI.
• Stechschulte has also now joined the 100-Hit Club with 107 hits in 114 career games.
• Armstrong has also joined the 100-Hit Club with 106 hits in 102 career games. He is also 7th all-time at ONU with 21 career home runs.
• With his performance on the day, Morris moved into the first place spot for home runs in the OAC with 6.
• Both Senior Joe Tootle (Powell/Olentangy Liberty) and freshman Jackson Saylor (Springboro) came into today tied for first in the OAC in wins with 5 each. Saylor also was second in earned run average boasting an 1.36, and third in strikeouts with 42. 
• Ohio Northern is in its 120th season of baseball. The Polar Bears are 1487-1161-20 all-time, a winning percentage of .557.
• 14th-year head coach Gene Stechschulte is now 299-213 at Ohio Northern for a winning percentage of .584.

Up Next

• The Polar Bears will look to bounce back next Friday when they travel to face Capital in an OAC double header starting at 1 pm.