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FORT MYERS, Fla. – The Cardinal baseball team moved back over the .500 mark Thursday afternoon, sweeping a doubleheader with Elms College in continuing a rugged and challenging spring-break schedule.

Otterbein began the week with an 11-6 triumph over Moravian College, trailing 3-1 early on before posting five runs in the fourth inning to jump on top and never look back. Dom Guzzi began the frame, stole third base and came around to cross the plate before the inning was punctuated by RBI-singles from Pat Birrer and Connor Brett.

The Cards received a brilliant five innings of relief from sophomore Conor Crotty, who did not allow a hit over the final five innings to pick up his first collegiate win. He struck out five batters and hit as high as 91 mph on the radar gun.

Brett set an Otterbein single-game record by drawing five walks, reaching base all six times for a Cardinal offense that actually left 13 runners on base. Despite that, the team saw multi-hit performances from Guzzi, Birrer, Justin Feltner and Tim Snyder.

Otterbein had Tuesday off before traveling a half hour to Fort Myers on Wednesday to play Alvernia, an NCAA Regional team last year and nationally-renown program. The Cardinals lost 6-3 in what was a fairly well-played contest, which initially saw Otterbein miss a prime opportunity in the first inning with runners on the corners and no outs. The Cards took a swinging strikeout and then got thrown out at the plate on a double-steal attempt.

Two-out hitting by the opposition did the Cards in once again with the Golden Wolves (4-3) scoring twice in the second and ultimately holding a 6-0 lead entering the later innings. Otterbein shortstop Ben Beacky kept things interesting late, tripling with the bases loaded to slice the deficit in half and give his team a chance.

Otterbein hung close late behind the strong pitching of reliever Ren Martin,  getting baserunners in the eighth and ninth frames but unfortunately coming up empty. Beachy hit 4 for 5 despite the loss while Feltner was 2 for 4 offensively.

Otterbein bounced back on Thursday to sweep Elms, winning 4-1 and 5-1 in a pair of seven-inning games behind solid pitching efforts from juniors Johnny Putnam and Jaryd Murphy.

Putnam went the distance in his victory, allowing just five hits and fanning five, while Murphy also scattered five hits over six innings on the bump. Luke Barber, making his return from a brief injury, went 2 for 4 in the opener while second baseman Mitch Stotler hit 2 for 3 with a pair of RBI.

Otterbein had just four hits in the rematch, but took advantage of opportunities by remaining aggressive and stealing a season-high 10 bases. During one sequence, sophomore Dmitri Collaros took second, third and then home one a double-steal sequence.

The Cards opened the game up with three-straight doubles in the fifth from Bryan Stopar, Brett and Snyder and gave the ball to Eric Norton for a 1-2-3- seventh. Brett went 2 for 3 with a double and triple.

Otterbein will have three games over the weekend, beginning with a notable matchup against Keystone on Friday morning at 10 a.m. The Giants won 33 games last spring and were also the national-runner up in 2016.