Box Score

FLORENCE, Ky. – The Otterbein baseball team launched its season in dominating fashion Sunday night, jumping all over Mount St. Joseph early and ultimately settling for a lengthy 16-11 victory at UC Health Stadium.

The Cardinals plated five runs in the first inning and never looked back, getting a memorable two-run homer from promising freshman Luke Barber in his first collegiate at-bat and then another two-run blast from junior Tim Snyder later in the sequence.

Mount St. Joseph, coming off a 24-20 season, scored a run in the bottom of the first before Otterbein posted eight more runs by the fifth inning to blow the game wide open. Designated hitter Bryan Stopar belted a two-run bomb of his own followed by a timely double from Connor Brett, a sacrifice fly from Justin Feltner and RBI-singles from Barber and Pat Birrer.

An eventual 14-1 lead would be easily comfortable for the Cardinal pitchers, using a whole-staff approach on the mound and throwing 10 different arms for about an inning each. The unit struck out a whopping 17 MSJ batters, across 27 outs, in a game that lasted nearly four hours.

Barber was the most notable story, as the first baseman hit 5 for 6 with three RBI and three runs scored in his first-ever game wearing an Otterbein uniform. Stopar and Feltner had two hits apiece as five Cardinals delivered multi-RBI performances.

The Lions, wildly scoring eight runs in the bottom of the ninth to shrink the final margin, received 2 for 5 offensive efforts from Garrett Hogan and Ryan Murray in falling to 2-1 on the year.

Otterbein will be back in action later this week down south, beginning its annual spring-break trip on Thursday against Mitchell College (Conn.) at the Snowbird Classic in Port Charlotte, Fla. Start time is scheduled for 4 p.m.