FORT MYERS, Fla. — After two days off, the Otterbein baseball team held off Hiram for a 7-6 victory in the fifth of its nine-game slate in the Gene Cusic Collegiate Classic on Thursday.

The Basics

• Records: Otterbein (5-6 overall), Hiram (3-4 overall)
• Venue: Terry Park Stadium - Fort Myers, Fla.

Otterbein Stat Leaders

• Senior Zac Taylor tallied three hits, including a double and a triple, to go with two RBIs, one run and one walk.
• Freshman Daniel Uhl posted two hits, including a triple, to go with two RBIs, one run and one walk.
• Graduate student Jamie Perebzak finished with two hits and one RBI.
• Senior Max McCann added one hit, one RBI, one run and two stolen bases.
• Sophomore Stevie Monokandilos posted one hit, one RBI, one run and one walk.
• Senior Bryson Bell got the pitching start for Otterbein and recorded three strikeouts in four innings on the mound.
• Sophomore Brady Heagen earned the win in relief, giving up just one run on three hits and one walk while adding one strikeout over three innings.
• Senior Noah Gruver picked up his first save of the season, recording two strikeouts in the final inning in relief of graduate student Luke Perigo, who pitched in the eighth.

Game Highlights

• Otterbein got the offense going with one on and two outs in the bottom of the first inning. A single from senior Charlie Greenlief advanced senior Logan Ullom to third base, and both runners scored on a triple from Taylor.
• Hiram scored a run in the top of the second inning and two more in the third to take a 3-2 lead.
• After the Terriers plated two more runs in the top of the fourth, the Cardinals responded with four runs in the bottom of the frame to take a 6-5 edge. Taylor drew a leadoff walk, advanced to second when freshman JT Gels was hit by a pitch and scored on a single from Monokandilos. Uhl later added a one-out 2-RBI triple and scored on a single from McCann.
• The Cardinals extended their lead to 7-5 in the bottom of the sixth on a two-out RBI single from Perebzak.
• Hiram pulled within one, 7-6, on a two-out RBI single in the top of the seventh, but Perigo and Gruver shut down the Terriers' offense in the eighth and ninth frames. Perigo worked around a one-out error by his defense to induce a pair of lineouts and a flyout in the eighth, and Gruver earned the save with a 1-2-3 ninth that included two strikeouts.
• Hiram out-hit Otterbein by a 10-9 margin. Otterbein committed five errors to Hiram's one.

Notables 

• Named the OAC Player of the Year and CSC Second Team Academic All-America in 2024, Perebzak ranks eighth all-time at Otterbein in hits (206), fourth in doubles (46), 11th in home runs (20) and third in RBIs (172).
• Ullom has 89 hits, 23 doubles and 43 RBIs in his Otterbein career. He has a team-high 17 hits and seven doubles this season. He has hit safely in nine of the 11 games this season, including six multi-hit games.
• Head coach George Powell is in his 26th year at Otterbein and has an all-time record of 613-426-1 at the helm of the Cardinals. He is a six-time OAC Coach of the Year honoree and has coached the Cardinals to three OAC regular-season championships and six OAC Tournament titles.