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WESTERVILLE, Ohio – The top-seeded Otterbein baseball team suffered a disappointing exit from the Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) Tournament on Friday, dropping games to Marietta and Baldwin Wallace in the double-elimination event.

The Cardinals, sporting a 32-11 overall record and OAC regular-season championship, will now wait to see if they earn an at-large bid to the upcoming NCAA Division III Tournament. Otterbein is currently ranked No. 6 in the region.

"I think we are one of the best teams in this region," Otterbein head coach George Powell said afterwards. "We are certainly in the mix but it probably depends on what happens with other conferences. It's hard to control strength of schedule sometimes so you just have to go out and play your games. We just had one bad day today. I thought we battled, fought and scraped but ran out of gas there at the end against BW."

Otterbein fell 13-8 to second-seeded Marietta (27-15) in the winner's-bracket game that kicked off the morning, and then dropped a heartbreaking 7-6 contest with Baldwin Wallace, the third seed, in an 11-inning battle.

The Cards trailed Marietta 3-1 entering the fourth inning, but a towering home run from first baseman Jake Simmerman sliced the deficit in half to begin the frame. Otterbein had a prime opportunity for more runs as runners eventually stood on second and third with no outs, but a hard shot up the middle from Christian Chiero was knocked down by Pioneer pitcher Tommy Crowl, who threw to first for the out and then struck out the next two batters.

Marietta began to pull away from there, running the margin to 6-2 by the middle of the sixth and then opening a 13-3 advantage after eight and a half innings. A strong-willed Otterbein group did not go quietly, batting around in its final plate appearance to score five runs before ultimately running out of steam with the bases loaded and tying run on deck.

"I thought we were uninspired for most of the game," Powell said. "I'm not sure if we were pressing or trying too hard, but there's no excuses because this is the OAC Tournament. Marietta just did what they do. They moved the ball with two strikes, capitalized on almost everything and made us pay for our mistakes."

Four Cardinals tallied multi-hit games, with Simmerman going 3 for 5 with three RBI. Chiero, who ripped a solo homer early in the game, finished 2 for 3 with a pair of walks while Tyler Kent and J.C. Gibson also tallied more than one hit.

Sophomore Craig Prince took the loss on the mound, working through some jams and ultimately allowing four runs (three earned) over 4.1 innings on the hill before giving way to the bullpen.

Seven Marietta players had multi-hit days, led by a 4 for 6 performance from second baseman Connor Golden.

"This is the best time of year," Golden said. "We had good energy all around and, now that we are out of school, we can just have fun and eat, sleep and breathe baseball. We executed at the plate in most situations today. It may not have been perfect every time, but we got the job done."

Otterbein jumped on top of Baldwin Wallace (22-19) to begin the second elimination game, starting with two-straight hits before center fielder Tyler Kent launched a three-run bomb over the left-field fence for his 11th round-tripper of the season.

Baldwin Wallace, which held off John Carroll by a score of 6-5 in the first elimination game, settled in and eventually scored four runs in the third inning off Cardinal starter Ben Hamilton, who had just the one rough inning and ultimately turned in a solid seven before exiting with a no-decision.

Otterbein continued to battle and was finally able to pull even in the bottom of the seventh when Brock Frentzel drew a lead-off walk and then advanced all the way to third on a sacrifice bunt from Ben Beachy. Taylor Hutchison then promptly tied the game with a single to right field.

The Cards faced a 5-4 deficit after BW scored in the top of the ninth, but answered the bell with almost the exact same sequence as Frentzel once again earned a lead-off walk and then scampered two bases on another nice bunt from Beachy. Hutchison was ready for task yet again by bringing home Frentzel with a sacrifice fly.

The Yellow Jackets regained control with a run in the top of the tenth, but the Cardinals persevered once more in the bottom of the inning despite being down to their final strike, with catcher Stephan Hernon delivering the tying RBI with a single down the left-field line.

BW somehow found a way to emerge with an eventual unearned run in the top of the 11th, with Mark Zimmerman getting a two-out-, two-strike single that deflected off Otterbein pitcher Caleb Norton, trickled into the middle of the infield and scored a runner from third. The inning began with a Cardinal fielding error.

Hutchison singled with two outs in the bottom of the last inning, but the Cardinals would come up just short as Baldwin Wallace advanced to Saturday's championship game against Marietta. First pitch is scheduled for noon.

Pitcher Tom Loeffler was sensational in relief for Baldwin Wallace, entering in the second inning and tossing an incredible 146 pitches over the next 10 frames to earn the win. He allowed eight hits and struck out seven.

"We jumped on them early in the game, but Loeffler was outstanding and you just have to tip your hat to him," Powell said. "He was unbelievable and gave them exactly what you need in this type of tournament setting. You need people to step up, and he did that for them."

Chiero was perfect at the plate as the designated hitter, ripping singles in all four of his plate appearances out of the five hole before getting pinch-ran for later in the game. Hutchison went 3 for 5 in the leadoff spot.

Otterbein closer Caleb Norton (3-2) endured the loss on the bump, facing 15 batters over his 3.2 innings of relief and allowing two earned runs.

"It was a fun game to coach in, playing cat and mouse with the opposition and trying to find ways to win," Powell said. "You have to give Baldwin Wallace a lot of credit. It was punch and counterpunch out there and they managed to land the final blow. I'm proud of our guys for the effort they gave."