WESTERVILLE, Ohio – After a frustrating and somewhat uncharacteristic three-game losing skid, the Otterbein baseball team promptly responded in a strong way by sweeping Mount Union Saturday afternoon in the Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) opener for both schools.
The Cardinals, looking to defend their 2018 regular-season title, started this year's league slate with victories by scores of 6-2 and 13-7 in front of a nice crowd at Fishbaugh Field.
Game One (6-2 Win):
The opener featured a strong pitching matchup between senior All-OAC standouts
Johnny Putnam (Otterbein) and Phil Mary (Mount Union), with the visiting Purple Raiders holding a slim 2-0 lead midway through.
Otterbein stayed the course and eventually tied things up in the seventh, forcing Mary to exit with runners on the corners and no outs. Freshman
Sam Edgell ultimately delivered a 2-RBI single through the right side.
Mount Union (10-5) looked to recapture momentum in the top of the eighth after loading the bases with one out, but the Cardinals promptly went to closer Collin Hoffman and saw him strike out the next two batters. He rung up the first hitter looking, and then shut down the frame after ripping a fastball by on a full count.
That set the stage for a memorable bottom of the ninth, which began with
Dmitri Collaros and and
Ben Beachy reaching on singles.
Tyler Thompson moved both teammates up with a perfect sacrifice bunt, and Edgell was intentionally walked to loaded the bases and create a potential force. None of that ended up mattering for clean-up hitter
Luke Barber, who launched a towering walk-off grand slam to right-center that erupted his dugout.
Tim Snyder hit 3 for 3 in the game while Hoffmann grabbed his first win by retiring five-straight hitters. Putnam took the no-decision despite a valiant effort, allowing just two runs over 7.1 innings of work.
Game Two (13-7 Win):
Mount Union held a 5-2 lead after a pair of home runs in the early going, but Otterbein once again stayed the course and strung together at-bats. Beachy ignited a three-run second inning with a long double that just missed leaving the park by a foot, and the contest was later tied (6-6) midway through after a two-out RBI from Barber.
It would be all Otterbein from that point, as the Cardinals got into the Purple Raider bullpen and strung together a rally that ended up seeing eight-straight runs. Otterbein posted three in the sixth, two in the seventh and another two in the eighth that blew the gates open.
Barber, Snyder,
Connor Brett and
Adam Stotler all had three-hit performances as the Cardinal lineup posted 17 hits as a team. Snyder is now hitting a whopping .453 on the season and holds an even .500 on-base percentage.
Sophomore
Andy Caddas secured his second win of the season after another long-relief effort, allowing just two hits across four middle innings after entering in the third. Senior
Jaryd Murphy then garnered a save as a result of tossing the final three frames to culminate.
UP NEXT:
Otterbein now hits the road for six-straight games, beginning with a pair of non-conference trips to Mount St Joseph and Ohio Wesleyan middle of the week. The Cards will then be back in league play next weekend at Muskingum.
