Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

BEREA, Ohio – The Otterbein baseball team split a doubleheader at No. 9 Baldwin Wallace on a windy Friday afternoon at Fisher Field. The Cardinals matched their season high with 19 hits on their way to a 15-9 victory in the opener before dropping a 21-7 decision in the nightcap.
 
Otterbein now sits 18-9 overall, 7-3 in Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) play, while Baldwin Wallace stands at 21-6, also 7-3 in conference play.

GAME ONE HIGHLIGHTS: 
After the Yellow Jackets took the early lead with a pair in the first, Otterbein cut the deficit in half in the second when Noah Sprowls doubled to left-center to lead off the inning, moved to third on a Brayden Quincel groundout and scored on a wild pitch. The Cardinals then took the lead with two in the top of the fourth off Baldwin Wallace starter Dawson Gabe. Sam Edgell doubled to right and advanced to third on an error to lead off the frame before scoring on a sacrifice fly by Sprowls. Quincel followed with a double down the left-field line before Sam Roy plated him with the go-ahead run on single to right.

After Baldwin Wallace responded with two more on four hits in the bottom of the inning off Otterbein starter Nicky Zorne to regain the lead, the Cardinals bounced right back with a six-run sixth. Quincel singled with one down and, after advancing to second on a groundout by Roy, scored on a single to left-center by Zach Franz. Brayden Carter followed with a single to left and Ryan Mitchell then dealt the big blow with a three-run home run to left for his second long ball of the season. 

Luke Barber kept the rally going with a single before an error on a fly ball by Jamie Perebzak extended the inning for Edgell to single to right to plate Barber and chase Gabe in a 9-4 game.
 
Baldwin Wallace got one back in the bottom of the sixth before Zorne was lifted for right-hander Travis Engard, who recorded the final two outs of the inning. It marked Engard's official return after a monthlong absence, following an injury toward the end of spring break.

Otterbein then pushed the lead to 11-5 in the top of the seventh on the third home run of the year by Carter but the Yellow Jackets answered right back in the bottom of the inning. Baldwin Wallace scored a pair to make it 11-7 and had the bases loaded with one down before Hunter Passwaters entered the game on the mound for the Cardinals. The senior left-hander allowed a sacrifice fly to Vincent Capulopo but froze Ryan Guggenheim looking to end the frame.

The Cardinals had the answer once again in the eighth, taking advantage of a pair of Baldwin Wallace errors and back-to-back two-out RBI singles by Franz and Carter to push the advantage to 14-8. Passwaters then tossed a perfect bottom of the eighth before Otterbein tacked on another in the ninth when Sprowls plated pinch-runner Cole Harris with a two-out single to left. 

The Yellow Jackets plated one in the bottom of the ninth on a two-out triple by Cooper Harestad before Passwaters got Capolupo to ground out to first to end the ballgame.
 
Zorne battled to pick up the win to improve to 4-1 on the year while Passwaters allowed the one run over 2.2 innings of relief to earn his second save of the season. Carter, Mitchell, Quincel and Roy each had three hits for the Cardinals, who pounded out 19 in the opener. Carter and Mitchell also drove in three runs apiece while Quincel scored three times. As a team, the Cardinals were 8-for-18 with runners in scoring position while limiting the Yellow Jackets to 3-for-14.

GAME TWO HIGHLIGHTS:
The Cardinals jumped ahead in the top of the second on a solo shot to left by Sprowls off Baldwin Wallace starter Aidan Bennett... but the Yellow Jackets responded by plating nine runs (on eight hits) in the bottom of the frame.

Sprowls drove in two more on a two-out single up the middle in the top of the third to make it a 9-3 contest but the Yellow Jackets added single tallies in the bottom of the third and fourth.

A Perebzak single up the middle, the third-straight hit to start the fifth, plated Mitchell to trim the deficit to 11-4 but the Cardinals would get no closer as Baldwin Wallace reliever Matt Sabin was able to get a comebacker back to the mound, a pop out and a ground out to limit the damage. 
 
The Yellow Jackets then put the contest out of reach with six runs on five hits and an error in the bottom of the inning.

Otterbein plated two more in the sixth on a Carter double and a Mitchell sacrifice fly and another in the eighth on a Barber sacrifice fly but the Baldwin Wallace bats were too much in the nightcap, earning the hosts the doubleheader split.

Mitchell went 4 for 4 with two runs scored in the second contest while Perebzak finished 3 for 4 and Sprowls went 2 for 4, driving in three.

ON DECK:
Otterbein hosts Wilmington in a doubleheader at 1 p.m. Wednesday at Fishbaugh Field.