WESTERVILLE, Ohio – The Otterbein baseball team settled for a doubleheader split against cross-town Capital Saturday afternoon at Fishbaugh Field, winning the opening in extra innings before absorbing a tough defeat in the rematch.

The Cardinals, moving to 16-11 overall and 7-3 within the Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC), relinquished a late lead in the ninth before winning 7-6 in the tenth. Capital then rebounded by scoring early runs and preserving a 7-4 triumph in the second affair.


Game 1: (7-6 Win, 10 innings):

Capital plated three unearned runs in the second inning after some a few miscues in the field, as Otterbein misplayed a pair of ground balls and the Crusaders took advantage.

The Cards stayed a consistent course at the plate, scoring once in each of the first three inning that culminated with a massive shot of the left-center field fence from Luke Barber in the third. That blast tied the game, and then Barber launched another round-tripper in the fifth to right field that put Otterbein ahead 5-3.

Otterbein started Johnny Putnam absolutely cruised through the middle innings, but Capital sliced the margin in half with a run in the eighth and then got the tying run on board in the ninth.

The Cards went to closer Collin Hoffman, who induced two grounders that were unfortunately both misplayed in the infield. The latter appeared to be a surefire double-play ball, but bounced away toward the outfield grass and allowed the tying run to score from second.

Capital then jumped ahead 6-5 in the top of the tenth, but Otterbein had the final say in the bottom portion that started with a lead-off single from Matthew Gibson. Senior Tyler Thompson eventually drew a bases-loaded walk, and Barber continued his standout game by playing the role of hero with a walk-off single moments later.

Barber went 4 for 6 with a career-best five RBI in the contest while Connor Brett, Dmitri Collaros and Adam Stotler all had two hits as well. Hoffmann took the win on the hill while Putnam was forced with a no-decision despite an impressive showing.

 
GAME 2: (7-4 Loss):

Capital bounced back early in game two with a three-run homer from Connor Richardson, and then added two-run innings in the second and sixth for a 7-0 lead.

Otterbein's offense couldn't get much going until the bottom of the sixth, getting all four runs on one swing as Brett launched a two-out grand slam across the left-center field fence and into the tennis courts. He was 2 for 4 in both contests and extended his hitting streak to 14 games.

The Cards had a two-out push in the eighth on consecutive hits from Barber and Brett, and Tim Snyder attempted to leg out a bouncer up the middle until being called out on a bang-bang play at first base.

Otterbein wasn't able to crack through in the ninth as Capital (8-19, 3-7 OAC) walked away with a split behind pitcher Scott Gutstein. He went struck out seven batters, and walked just one, over eight innings.

Dmitri Collaros paced Otterbein by hitting 3 for 4 in game two, and Barber finished the day a collective 6 for 9 across both games.

 
UP NEXT:

Otterbein will have a pair of conference doubleheader next week, traveling to Ohio Northern on Tuesday before hosting John Carroll at Fishbaugh Field for Good Friday. Both twinbills have times of 1 and 4 p.m.