BEREA, Ohio – The 2019 Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) Baseball Tournament kicked off in true postseason fashion bright and early Thursday morning, as Otterbein prevailed with a narrow 2-1 victory over host and top-seeded Baldwin Wallace at Fisher Field.

The Cardinals, seeded No. 4 in the four-team event, reaped a pitching gem from junior Collin Hoffmann as the stoic right-hander delivered a complete-game effort in a battle of arguably the top-two pitchers in the league. He threw 113 pitches, struck out six batters, walked none, and improved to a 6-0 record this spring.

A standout reliever/closer the past two seasons, Hoffmann was making his third start in 10 days after recently being asked to take on a new role and find new stamina. He has delivered mightily in all three, with the first being a seven-inning performance against John Carroll (103 pitches) last Tuesday and the second coming Sunday at Marietta across six frames (86 pitches).

"This is fun," said Hoffmann, who started in high school and then twice as a college freshman down on spring break before transitioning to a relief role. "It's just like riding a bike. I embraced that new role and now I'm embracing what is being asked of me now. I'm grateful for the team coming up with plays behind me in the field to make life easier."

The Cardinals broke through early against Baldwin Wallace ace Danny Cody, the frontrunner for OAC Pitcher of the Year who entered holding a 9-0 record and 1.52 E.R.A. The senior, ranked as one of the top Division III pro prospects, took the mound to begin the day in front of a handful of MLB scouts.

Nevertheless, Otterbein took advantage of a lead-off error that put Ben Beachy aboard and eventually saw him come around to score one a one-out single from Luke Barber. The Cards had two runners on before Cody fanned the next two hitters.

Dmitri Collaros led off the second inning with a single and, after a sacrifice bunt from Tyler Thompson, Beachy rocketed a 3-1 fastball through the left side to bring his teammate around. It gave Beachy 213 hits for his career, pushing him ahead of former All-American Wes Meadows to become the program's all-time leader in the category.

"I am just thankful for the opportunity to come play four years in this program," Beachy said afterwards. "It wasn't something that I focused on coming into today, but very nice that it happened. I don't know what else to say because this is all more than just me. We all do it together as teammates."

That 2-0 margin would be enough for Hoffmann, who glided through six innings and then worked around trouble down the stretch. BW had two runners on, with no outs, in the seventh before Hoffmann struck out the side. He then encountered the same trouble in the eighth but emerged unscathed, beginning with Beachy corralling a line drive and flipping to Collaros at second for a massive double play. A fielder's choice groundout then ended the frame.

The only blemish came in the ninth, when Yellow Jacket designated hitter Sam Sustersic got around on a 2-2 pitch and launched a towering solo home run that snuck inside the left-field foul pole. Hoffmann, who also has seven saves this year, promptly responded with a swinging strikeout and popup in foul territory.

"Collin was a bulldog out there again," head coach George Powell said. "It becomes easy to watch from a coaching standpoint, because you have a guy that can keep things shut down even when we might have an offensive lull."

Cody kept BW in the game despite taking his first loss of the season, throwing 6.1 innings before giving way to the bullpen. He and Jack Raines escaped some situations with runners on base, as Otterbein left 10 stranded throughout and didn't record a hit after the second inning.

Otterbein now advances to the winner's bracket game Friday morning, and will take on No. 3 seed Ohio Northern with first pitch set for 9:30 a.m. ONU defeated second seed Heidelberg, 9-5, in a game that saw three short rain delays.