Box Score
MARIETTA, Ohio – The Otterbein University baseball team advanced to the 2013 Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) Tournament Championship Saturday afternoon, knocking off host and top-seed Marietta College, 10-8, in a semifinal matchup.
The Cardinals advance to their first title series since the 2007 season, when they won the last of three-straight league crowns. Otterbein will play No. 3 seed University of Mount Union, needing to beat the Purple Raiders twice in order to win the double-elimination bracket.
After waiting for Marietta and John Carroll University to finish a marathon 13-inning game, the longest in OAC Tournament history, the Cards took the diamond one win away from the title game.
Otterbein opened strong with three runs in the first inning, which included RBI from Sean Kettering and Nich Pitzer. Senior Wes Meadows hit safely in his first at-bat, passing 2004 graduate Tory Allen for Otterbein’s all-time hits record at 210.
Marietta encountered a bit of luck in the next inning, getting a 2-run inside-the-park home run from Chris Winpigler after Thomas Linder’s had his foot get caught under the right field fence.
Otterbein tallied another three runs in the second, two coming off a towering blast from Meadows to left-center field. The shot was the 10th of the season for Meadows, tops in the conference.
Winpigler brought the Pioneers to within 8-4 after his second homer of the game in the fifth, but the Tan and Cardinal answered immediately with two runs in the next at-bat off an RBI-triple from Tyler Kent and a Marietta wild pitch.
The Pioneers got to Otterbein starter Taylor Ellis in the seventh, tallying five-consecutive hits and scoring twice before Cardinal lefty Jon Cheyney came on in relief with the bases loaded. Cheyney helped minimized the damage, getting out of the inning with the Cards ahead, 10-8.
Senior David Cydrus, entering the week leading the nation in strikeout-to-walk ratio, loaded the bases in the eighth before striking out Marietta cleanup hitter Alex Toth to end the inning. Cydrus then recovered from a leadoff single in the ninth to tally his first save of the year.
Meadows went 2 for 3 at the plate and was intentionally walked in his other two at-bats. Billy Harkenrider, Nich Pitzer, and Jimmy Waterwash all tallied multi-hit games while Ellis improved to 5-1 on the mound.
