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WESTERVILLE, Ohio – The Otterbein baseball team opened the Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) Tournament with a nice victory Thursday afternoon, catching fire late to pull away and beat fourth-seeded John Carroll by a score of 9-2.

The Cardinals, serving as the top seed and tournament host after winning the OAC regular-season, move to 32-9 on the spring and will play in the winner's bracket Friday morning, 9:30 a.m., against second-seeded Marietta. The Pioneers (26-15) emerged with a narrow 1-0 triumph over No. 3 seed Baldwin Wallace.

John Carroll (19-21) will square off against BW (21-19) in an elimination game scheduled to begin around 12:30 p.m. Friday afternoon.

Otterbein's Robert Kemer and John Carroll left-hander Brandon Maddern traded outs during an early pitcher's duel, with Kemer striking out seven Blue Streaks in the first three innings before making a few rare mistakes in the fourth. John Carroll grabbed a 2-0 lead in the frame, getting a leadoff double followed by a two-run blast over the left-field fence from clean-up man Tyler Gentile.

"We practice executing pitches and that home run pitch certainly wasn't executed very well," Kemer said. "I was fortunately able to get back on track and take things to the finish. It's always nice knowing I will get run support from our lineup. As a pitcher, I wouldn't want to face them."

"I didn't think the game would end up 2-0, especially with the offense that Otterbein has," John Carroll head coach Marc Thibeault added. "We struck out quite a bit early and just weren't able to make any adjustments against Kemer on the mound."

The Cards got one run back in the fifth, with senior Mark Walton drawing a two-out, bases-loaded walk to trim the deficit in half before the sequence eventually ended with three runners stranded.

"We got out of a bases-loaded jam and minimized the damage despite three walks in that fifth inning," Thibeault said. "This is a versatile Otterbein lineup from beginning to end and we tried to change some looks up at times. Brandon (Maddern) gave us a chance to win the game and it was only 2-1 when he came out. I'll take that start in an OAC Tournament any day."

Otterbein jumped ahead for good in the seventh, forcing Maddern to exit after a double from Taylor Hutchison and a single from Walton, which allowed center fielder Tyler Kent to single through the left side and tie the matchup. Senior right fielder J.C. Gibson then came up with the go-ahead hit, rocketing a 2-RBI double to left field that propelled his team to a 4-2 advantage.

"We tied the game but then J.C. followed with a good at-bat to push us ahead, and that's what it takes to win," Otterbein head coach George Powell said. "We have a team that plays together and has continued to build confidence throughout the season. They don't put a time clock on these games. There are nine innings and you have to get 27 outs one way or another. We try to make it hard on teams whether it's the first few innings or the last few innings."

Otterbein widened the gap in the bottom of the eighth, batting around the lineup and getting RBI from Walton, Kent and Gibson to never look back.

Five Cardinals registered multi-hit games, led by a 3 for 5 day from Walton in which he had two RBI and runs scored. Kent drove in three runs on a 2 for 5 effort, moving within seven hits of tying Otterbein's career record of 212.

Kemer went the distance for a complete-game victory on the bump, improving to a perfect 7-0 this season after scattering just five hits and striking out 11 JCU batters. Maddern, who stands 6'9", fell to 6-6 on the year with the loss despite a rather solid outing. He surrendered three earned runs and five hits over 6.1 innings of work.

"Maddern is a really good arm and we hadn't faced him in the regular season," Powell explained. "We just stayed the course and I was proud of our guys for battling throughout. You have to keep coming in this tournament and we had Robert Kemer help keep us in the game the entire way."

Tomorrow's Otterbein/Marietta winner advances to Saturday's championship while the loser will take on the winner of Baldwin Wallace/John Carroll for the rights to play in the title game.