WESTERVILLE, Ohio – After two odd years away, the Otterbein Baseball team is officially back in the postseason and will begin the 2022 Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) Tournament this coming Thursday afternoon at host Marietta College.

The Cardinals, seeded second, will face No. 3 seed Baldwin Wallace inside Don Schaly Stadium at 4 p.m. to open the league's double-elimination bracket. Top seed Marietta kickstarts the action Thursday against No. 4 Mount Union.

The tournament winner earns an automatic bid to compete in the upcoming NCAA Division III Championships.

FULL TOURNAMENT SITE HERE

Otterbein won pieces of four-straight OAC titles from 2016-19, including tournament crowns in the 2017 and 2019 campaigns. No champion was crowed in 2020 due to COVID, and the Cards unfortunately missed out on the league's postseason event last year after somehow dropping 10 games by two runs or less in an unusual spring.

Nevertheless, Otterbein (27-13, 14-4 OAC) is back now after finishing runner-up to the Pioneers by just one game in the regular-season standings. The Cards enter the postseason having won nine of their last 12, including a recent Sunday sweep that broke Marietta's 21-game winning streak.

Third baseman Brayden Carter spearheads Otterbein's lineup from the leadoff spot, ranking among the league leaders with a .402 batting average and 49 runs scored. Journeyman first baseman Luke Barber ranks fourth in RBI (49) as part of the potent Cardinal offense, averaging almost nine runs per game.

A handful of veterans lead the pitching side as seniors Travis Engard, Nicky Zorne, Logan Weber and standout reliever Travis Burson hold a combined 18-3 record on the hill. Engard (5-0, 2.87 E.R.A.) started the OAC Championships game way back as a freshman and missed five weeks earlier this season due to injury…

Burson has emerged as a true weapon from the bullpen in notching a 2-0 record, five saves and 3.59 E.R.A. Plenty of Cardinal arms will be asked to stay ready later this week.

Otterbein split a high-scoring doubleheader at Baldwin Wallace earlier this season up in Berea, winning the opener 15-9 before dropping a 21-7 rematch. Marietta is the defending champion of this event after besting Mount Union in a pair of one-run games.