MARIETTA, Ohio – It was a tough opening day in the Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) Tournament for Otterbein, as the No. 2 seeded Cardinals fell behind early and never caught up against the upstart No. 3 Yellow Jackets of Baldwin Wallace.

BW, also ranked 18th nationally, jumped on starter Travis Engard early despite the Otterbein senior just missed some corners of the plate in the opening inning. Nevertheless, a two-run homer from Luke Vonderhaar ignited a stretch that saw Baldwin Wallace build a 7-0 lead midway through the second.

Fellow Grove City native Braydon McCloskey came on to provide a nice long-relief effort, allowing just one run over 4.2 innings of work to keep the Cards within striking distance.

Unfortunately, Otterbein's lineup would only able to bring around two runs against BW right-hander Dawson Gabe over his eight innings. The Cards found a little two-out momentum in the fourth as Gabe missed the zone, hitting Jamie Perebzak before consecutive walks to Sam Edgell and Noah Sprowls brought one across…

A foul-out on the next batter left the bases loaded, and Otterbein's only other run in the game came on a solo homer down the left-field line from Zach Franz in the seventh.

Brayden Carter, entering the day hitting .402 on the season, was very productive yet again in his leadoff spot. The third baseman went 3 for 4 with a walk, ultimately reaching base four times. He now has 69 hits overal and is two shy of Otterbein's single-season record.

Franz hit 2 for 4 with a double and that round-tripper, but the Yellow Jackets finished with a 14-7 advantage in the hit category.

Robby Kain and Kyle Krieger also contributed nice relief stretches from the pen, combining to toss the final nine outs.

Otterbein will now square off against No. 4 seed Mount Union tomorrow in an elimination game after the Purple Raiders fell victim to Marietta by a 19-2 margin. First pitch from Pioneer Park is slated for roughly 2 p.m.