BEREA, Ohio – It was significantly better weather and another one-run result for Otterbein on day two of the OAC Baseball Tournament, although the Cardinals were forced to settle with a 5-4 loss against top seed Baldwin Wallace in a high-level showdown of the winner's bracket.

BW, hosting and ranked No. 5 nationally, manufactured a go-ahead run in the seventh inning to slip into this weekend's championship contest. The second-seeded Cardinals will now play an elimination game later Friday afternoon against the winner of Marietta and Ohio Northern.

HOW IT PLAYED OUT:

• The Yellow Jackets (35-7) crossed a pair of runs in a first inning that saw two hits but then a pair of defensive miscues by the Cards. A failed pickoff attempt, along with a fielder's choice throwing error trying when trying to get the leader runner at third base, ultimately allowed a pair (one earned) to cross.
   
• Otterbein was retired quickly in its first two plate appearances before getting settled in the third with a two-out sequence. A perfect bunt single from Brayden Carter, followed with a hit from Noah Sprowls and walk by Jamie Perebzak, loaded the bases. Brayden Quincel got just enough (while protecting a 1-2 count) on a ball through the left side that sliced got his team on the board.
   
• The Cards (26-14) carried that momentum into the fourth, where four-straight hits with one out vaulted the team in front. Caden Kirker dropped a smooth bunt up the first base line and avoided a tag, before the lineup turned over and Carter smoked a ball the opposite way.
   
• Bryson Bell settled in nicely on the mound after that scattered first inning, finding success with his breaking ball and keeping BW to just on additional run (a two-out poke up the middle) in the fourth.
   
• Otterbein regained the lead at 4-3 once the fifth inning began, when Gavin Wolf rocketed a double down the left-field line and fellow namesake Gavin Thompson did his best Rickey Henderson impression blazing around from first. Athletic trainer Ally Smith had an oxygen tank waiting in the dugout.
   
• In a big-boy game of momentum swings, BW drew even again (at 4-4) in the sixth before reliever Braydon McCloskey entered with two runners on and just one out. He needed just two pitches to induce a 5-4-3 double-play groundout that ignited his bench and kept the score deadlocked.
   
• Another unearned run after the seventh-inning stretch propelled the Jackets back in front, as a runner stole second and then moved to third on an errant throw. An RBI groundout followed where Carter had to take the play at first.
   
• Otterbein moved a potential tying run to third base in the eighth after Logan Ullom doubled and then stole third, but a decent piece of contact from pinch hitter Minseo Jang was corralled for a closer-than-expected 6-3 putout. Ullom later atoned nicely for his previous error with a laser in the ninth, catching a runner stealing at second to keep the deficit 5-4.
   
• Perebzak was hit by a pitch with two outs to give Quincel a chance, but Yellow Jacket pitcher Jake Heatherington finished off a stellar relief effort.

THE AFTERMATH:

• Heatherington improved to a 5-0 record with just one hit allowed over the final 4.2 innings from the bullpen. Starter Vince Dolcemaschio was removed after getting touched up a bit with nine Otterbein hits over his 66 pitches.
   
• Bell took a no-decision after grinding through 5.1 innings of work, throwing 77 pitches in the process.
   
• Carter and Ullom both had two-hit showings at the plate, with both of Ullom's knocks going for extra bases.
   
• The Cardinals finished with a slight 10-9 edge in total hits.