Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The quality of Otterbein pitching was on full display Friday afternoon in a cross-town doubleheader against rival Capital University, limiting the Crusaders to just a lone run in each game in a sweep by scores of 14-1 and 6-1.

The Cardinals, winning their sixth-straight game and eighth of the past nine, improve themselves to a solid 19-8 on the season and 7-3 within Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) play.

Senior Craig Prince was the primary story of game one, allowing just one unearned run over 7.1 innings on the hill in grabbing his third win of the year. A reigning first team All-OAC selection, he worked around some trouble in the early innings and ultimately recorded seven strikeouts, allowed five hits and no walks.

Capital (11-17, 2-8 OAC) has now lost eight-straight games despite five of those coming by two runs or less.

The Crusaders took a 1-0 lead in the fifth inning, but the Cards immediately responded against Capital's Patrick Avellano to explode for seven runs in the next at-bat. Otterbein tied the game on an RBI-single from Bryan Stopar, followed by a go-ahead double to right-center from Connor Brett as the Cards eventually sent 12 hitters to the plate in the sixth.

The lead would be more than enough for Prince, who was relieved by seniors Jake Walters and Eric Norton to finish the job. Otterbein cemented things with seven more runs in the final two innings, highlighted by a solo homer from Ben Beachy and a three-run blast from Stopar.

The top-five hitters in Otterbein's lineup had multi-hit performances, spearheaded by a 4 for 5 line from standout freshman Luke Barber.

The Cards then watched senior lefty Stevie Yuran allow just one run over six innings of his start in the rematch, where Otterbein took an early 1-0 lead in the first before the Crusaders tied things up.

Otterbein jumped ahead in the third on a 2-RBI triple from Tim Snyder, who came around nicely on a hard-hit ball that bounced away from the reach of a diving left fielder. The lead would be added to via the long ball once again, this time on solo blasts from Beachy and third baseman Connor Brett in the sixth and seventh innings, respectively.

Yuran allowed six hits and struck out five over his six innings on the hill, working nicely out of a few situations with multiple runners on base. He gave way to a strong relief effort from the Cardinal bullpen, with John Kopicky needing just 12 pitches in the seventh and then closer Collin Hoffman working a quick six outs to culminate.

Tyler Thompson hit 3 for 5 in the second affair and 5 for 9 on the day as a whole, while Barber and Snyder also had multi-hit outings to finish up. Barber now has a 14-game hitting streak and continues to lead the OAC in batting at a whopping .458 average.

Otterbein will have four key OAC doubleheaders coming up in the next few weeks, with three of those taking place at home. The league state will continue this coming Wednesday afternoon with a pair of games against Ohio Northern.