WESTERVILLE — Freshman Austin Payne posted a solid start on the mound in leading the Otterbein baseball team to a 5-1 win over Oberlin in its 2025 home opener on Tuesday.

The Basics

• Records: Otterbein (8-8 overall), Oberlin (3-10 overall)
• Venue: Fishbaugh Field - Westerville, Ohio

Otterbein Stat Leaders

• Payne earned the win on the mound after getting the start for the Cardinals and allowing just two hits and two walks while striking out six over six scoreless innings.
• Sophomore Brady Heagen pitched the final three innings and picked up a save. He allowed one unearned run on three hits and one walk while striking out four.
• Senior Zac Taylor tallied two hits, one RBI and one run.
• Sophomore Stevie Monokandilos posted one hit, one RBI, two runs and one steal.
• Senior Charlie Greenlief had a double, one RBI and one run.
• Senior Logan Ullom totaled one hit and one run.
• Freshman Daniel Uhl added a double, one RBI and one steal.

Game Highlights

• Otterbein scored first, plating a run on an RBI double from Greenlief in the bottom of the first inning.
• An RBI single from Taylor put the Cardinals up 2-0 in the bottom of the fourth.
• Otterbein continued adding to its lead in the sixth, getting an RBI single from Monokandilos and an RBI double from Uhl for a 4-0 edge.
• An RBI sac fly from freshman Calvin Mabry gave Otterbein a 5-0 lead in the bottom of the eighth.
• After being held scoreless by Payne, Oberlin scored its lone run in the top of the ninth on a one-out RBI single. With runners on first and second, Heagen ended the game with a strikeout and flyout.
• Otterbein out-hit Oberlin by an 8-5 margin. Otterbein committed four errors to Oberlin's two.

Notables 

• Named the OAC Player of the Year and CSC Second Team Academic All-America in 2024, graduate student Jamie Perebzak is tied for fifth all-time at Otterbein in hits (209) and ranks fourth in doubles (47), 11th in home runs (20) and third in RBIs (175).
• Ullom has 96 hits, 24 doubles and 44 RBIs in his Otterbein career. He has a team-high 24 hits and eight doubles this season.
• Taylor has a team-high 17 RBIs on the season.
• Head coach George Powell is in his 26th year at Otterbein and has an all-time record of 616-428-1 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.