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BEREA, Ohio – A tough stretch of competition for the Otterbein baseball team culminated Saturday afternoon at Baldwin Wallace, where the rising Yellow Jackets finished off a weekend sweep of the Cardinals at Fisher Field.

A home-and-home doubleheader series began Friday at Otterbein, as the games were flip-flopped from their originally scheduled dates due to inclement weather in the Cleveland area.

SATURDAY, L 9-8 (12 inn.)
Both teams traded runs early, with a critical two-out, three-run homer from BW's Dudley Taw putting the Yellow Jackets ahead 6-3 in the middle innings. Otterbein later trailed 8-3 before clawing back, ultimately entering the bottom of the ninth down just one run…

A lead-off single from Luke Barber led to pinch-runner Killian Brewer advancing to second on a passed ball. Zach Franz eventually delivered a two-out single through the right side that forced extra innings.

Otterbein had its first hitter on base in both the 10th and 11 frames, but would be unable to bring a run around. A two-out homer in the top of the 12th was ultimately the difference.

SATURDAY, L 19-9 (7 inn.)
The game was tied 1-1 before Baldwin Wallace tallied seven runs in the third inning, as all but one occurred with two outs.

Otterbein later trailed 11-2 but didn't quit, scoring seven runs across the next two frames to keep things interesting. Brayden Carter and Dmitri Collaros had RBI-doubles in the fourth while Gino Pierro, Noah Sprowls and Ryan Mitchell all drove in runs during the next at-bat.

Unfortunately, the Cardinals had some other hard-hit balls that just wouldn't find grass… and BW scored multiple runs in the sixth and seventh to put the game away.

SUNDAY, L 8-7
Another disappointing one-run loss was in store for the rematch, where Otterbein held a 4-2 lead in the fifth inning after a single from Barber. The Cards then trailed 6-4 before another quality three-run frame in the seventh, a sequence that saw seven batters at the plate and Jamie Perebzak rip a two-out, go-ahead, RBI single.

Nevertheless, BW manufactured a pair of runs in the seventh to jump ahead for good. The Yellow Jackets tied the game on a sac fly, and then benefited from a pair of Cardinal miscues to cross the go-ahead run.

Otterbein got two runners aboard in the ninth before the last-ditch effort stalled out.

SUNDAY, L 9-5
Extra-base hits pushed across almost all runs in the finale, where Otterbein only trailed 4-3 midway through the fourth inning before BW created separation. The hosts used a double and home run in the bottom half to open a 7-3 lead and keep an arms-length advantage down the stretch.

Collaros and Perebak notched solo homers, but it wouldn't be enough as Otterbein endured the sweep. Barber contributed three multi-hit games over the weekend while Perebzak, the reigning OAC Hitter of the Week, went 6 for 13 over the final three contests.

LOOKING AHEAD:
Otterbein will get back to the drawing board and continue working, eventually resuming action next weekend with another four games against Wilmington.