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WESTERVILLE, Ohio – The Otterbein baseball team worked back for a doubleheader split Saturday afternoon against Wilmington, dropping the opening before blowing out the Quakers in a rematch at Fishbaugh Field.

The two schools previously met during opening weekend in Dayton, but all four of those games were deemed "pre-conference" regarding the OAC standings. This weekend, the home-and-home twinbill are being played as official league games.

GAME ONE: (L 3-1)
An expected pitching dual became just that in the morning contest, as Collin Hoffmann and Luke Chappie were both sharp once again after facing off in the season opener. Both teams had a few opportunities with runners on base throughout, but things remained scoreless midway through the eighth inning…

The Cardinals finally manufactured a run (albeit unearned against Chappie) when Adam Stotler reached on an error to begin the bottom of the eighth. Brayden Carter moved him over to second, and Ryan Mitchell promptly delivered an RBI-single. Otterbein then had runners on the corners with two outs, but a hard-hit ball from Will Johnson down the left-field line was corralled.

Wilmington admirably countered in its final at-bat, tying the game with a one-out double and then stringing together a pair of insurance runs. Otterbein got the tying run to the plate with one out, but the next two batters were retired.

Chappie went the distance to earn a victory, while Hoffmann absorbed his first loss of the season despite a strong 8.1 frames on the bump. Jamie Perebzak hit 2 for 4 on the Otterbein side.

GAME TWO: (W 12-0)
A frustrated Otterbein team channeled that energy into the second affair, opening a 9-0 lead after three innings and coasting to a run-rule victory. Carter scored after a double-steal sequence in the first and had an RBI-single in the second. Perebzak delivered a pair of RBI knocks early, and the route was on…

Luke Barber walked with the bases loaded in the third, Perebzak had another nice poke and the Cards pieced together some quality at-bats down the stretch to increase their gap to double digits.

Perebzak went 3 for 4 with five RBI in the win, while Carter and Mitchell also tallied three-hit performances. The patient lineup also walked 11 times from start to finish, including freshman Adam Folk drawing four of those in his first college start.

Andy Caddas went the first three scoreless innings on the mound before giving way to Jackson Wilson, who took it the remainder of the way and was credited with the win. Caddas had five strikeouts in his outing.

UP NEXT:
Both teams will get back together Sunday afternoon for another doubleheader, this time down at Wilmington. Games are currently scheduled for 1 and 4 p.m.