Box Score
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Another late offensive stretch helped the Cardinal baseball team blow open a close game Thursday night on the road, posting an 18-6 non-conference victory over Transylvania University at Whitaker Bank Ballpark.
The Cardinals, now holding a 17-8 record overall, plated nine runs in the top half of the eighth inning that turned a 6-5 game into a beyond-comfortable margin. Transylvania served as the hosts at Whitaker Bank, home to the Lexington Legends and Single-A affiliate of the Kansas City Royals. The complex is located just 1.3 miles away from the Pioneer campus.
Otterbein took an immediate lead after a
Tyler Thompson RBI-single scored leadoff man
Ben Beachy, who opened the game by smoking a double to right field. He finished with two doubles on the night, now putting him atop the Ohio Athletic Conference with 14 this season.
Transylvania (14-13) jumped ahead on three unearned runs in the bottom of the second, where a passed ball following a swinging strikeout kept the Cards out in the field and extended the frame.
Otterbein instantly regained the lead in the next at-bat, with left-handed hitting
Pat Birrer roping an RBI-single to beat the defensive shift and then second baseman
Dmitri Collaros contributing a timely 2-RBI double.
Transy tied the game on a sac fly in the fourth, although the sequence could have gone worse as Cardinal right-hander
Chris Sparks limited the damage after getting into a bases-loaded jam with no outs. He ultimately escaped by picking off a runner at second base.
Otterbein took the lead for good on a pair of infield singles in the sixth, the first coming via a popup from Thompson straight in the air that appeared to get lost in the lights. The ball just barely worked its way back into fair territory and bounced directly in front of the plate as the go-ahead run crossed.
Luke Barber followed that up by legging out a grounder to the left side.
Junior
Jaryd Murphy relieved Sparks on the hill and tossed three quality innings of relief for the pitching win. The Cards made a couple nice defensive plays in the field during the sixth, the first coming on a relay throw from right fielder
Bryan Stopar, to Beachy at shortstop, to
Connor Brett at third that eliminated a runner in the 6-4 game. Murphy then turned around to pick off a Pioneer at first base moments later.
Five different Cardinals had multi-hit nights, led by Thompson and Barber with three each in a contest that lasted nearly three and a half hours. Otterbein will be right back in action tomorrow afternoon, heading across town for an OAC doubleheader at Capital. First pitch from Clowson Field is set for 1 p.m.
