Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

NEW CONCORD, Ohio – The Otterbein baseball team escaped Muskingum University wih a key Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) doubleheader sweep Saturday afternoon, winning 9-0 to start the day before a 12-10 win over 13 innings in the rematch.

Otterbein (21-8, 9-5 OAC) posted a decisive victory to begin the day, getting eight impressive innings from right-hander Adam Collier en route to the easy win. Collier allowed just two hits in the outing, striking out five batters to grab his first win of the spring.

The Otterbein offense clicked throughout, beginning with a 2-RBI single from Jake Simmerman in the third before a solo homer from Tyler Kent in the fifth inning.

The Cards used a workmanlike effort to gradually extend the lead, later getting two-run home runs from Kent and Mark Walton to blow the game open. The round-tripper for Walton wa the first of his career. Kent finished the game 3 for 5 with three RBI and three runs scored to pace the Tan and Cardinal lineup.

Otterbein carried the offensive momentum into game two, scoring four runs in the first inning after a 2-RBI double from Simmerman followed by a 2-run homer from Peyton Ross. The Cards held a 6-1 lead after RBIs from Nich Pitzer, Sean Kettering and Simmerman in the second frame, but the Muskies (10-22, 4-10 OAC) finally found an offensive stride to bring home five runs in the bottom of the second.

Taylor Hutchison gave Otterbein an 8-6 lead with a 2-RBI single up the middle in the third, but Muskingum answered again with four more runs in the bottom of that inning to take a 10-8 lead.

The scoring died down as the game progressed, with a sac-fly from Hutchison in the fifth being the only run over the next handful of innings as Otterbein trailed 10-9.

The Cards left the bases loaded in the eighth, but ultimately found a way to draw even in their final at-bat with a two-out, RBI-single from third baseman Nich Pitzer.  Sam Severance was hit by a pitch to begin the sequence and was pinch-run for by Brock Frentzel, who advanced to second on a wild pitch. Mark Walton moved Frentzel to third with a sacrifice bunt before Pitzer ultimately came up with the timely hit.

Otterbein closer Caleb Norton got out of a bases-loaded jam in the tenth inning, and Simmerman started the top of the 13th with a solo home run to right-center that put the team ahead for good. Ty Compton drove in an insurance run before Norton pitched his fifth scoreless inning of the day for the win.

"This effort is correlates with our leadership, Powell said. " I think teams usually get better as the day goes along, and you saw that out of Muskingum today. You have to give them a lot of credit in that second game. You need to have wins like this as you go forward. Tournament baseball is punches and counter-punches."

Walton and Compton both went 4 for 6 in the second game while Hutchison, Simmerman and Peyton Ross all had three hits.

Otterbein will return to OAC play next Saturday with a home doubleheader against No. 8-ranked Heidelberg, but is first scheduled to play three non-conference games during the week.