WESTERVILLE, Ohio — Marietta College's bid for the 2018 Ohio Athletic Conference Baseball Tournament crown came to end Friday (May 11) afternoon as the Pioneers lost to Otterbein University, 5-3, in an elimination game.
Marietta avoided elimination in an earlier losers bracket game with a 2-0 win over Ohio Northern University (27-15 overall). The Pioneers are 27-16 overall and are now waiting to see if they receive an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament. The tournament field will be announced late Sunday night or early Monday morning.
Senior Scott Oberhelman (5-3) was nearly unhittable in the Pioneers' win over Ohio Northern. The right-hander needed just 77 pitches to record the complete game shutout. He allowed four hits, all singles, and struck out two. With the help of two double plays, Oberhelman faced two hitters over the minimum for the game.
The Pioneers plated single runs in the second and fourth innings. Connor Golden reached on a one-out double in the second. He moved to second when Trent Castle was beaned and then a single from Zack Ward loaded the bases. Brady Cottom followed with a sac fly scoring Golden.
Mike Hale got things rolling in the fourth inning. He hit a fly ball that dropped into left field when the Polar Bear outfielder lost the ball in the sun. Hustling on the play, Hale got a stand-up double out of the misplay. Hale would later score on an RBI single from Castle.
Austin Frey (7-2) started and got the loss for Ohio Northern. He worked 5.0 inning and allowed two runs on six hits. Jack Schaller threw 3.0 shutout innings and allowed two hits and struck out two.
Freshman Damian Yenzi was the lone Pioneer with two hits in the game.
In the second game, Otterbein (30-13 overall) took advantage of the short right field fence to build and early 4-1 lead. After Marietta scored one run in the top of the first, the Cardinals got a two-run home run from Luke Barber. Otterbein struck again in the second inning when Tim Snyder homered to right for two more runs.
The Pioneers cut the Otterbein lead to one, 4-3, with two runs in the top of the fifth inning. Seamus Kenneally led off with a single down the leftfield line. Geoff Snyder followed with a double to left. Chris Petrucci grounded out to the shortstop scoring Kenneally and Snyder would eventually score on a wild pitch.
Otterbein added an insurance run in the eighth inning. Bryan Stopar led off with a double and Barber followed with a single moving Stopar to third. Connor Brett grounded into a double play allowing Stopar to score.
Marietta managed to load the bases with two outs in the top of the ninth inning and had Hale, the Pioneers' cleanup hitter, at the plate. Hale hit a towering fly ball into the left-center gap that looked like it might leave the park for a grand slam. But the ball stayed in the park and was caught by the Otterbein centerfielder for the final out.
Ian Luttrell (3-2) started and took the loss. Luttrell threw 2.0 innings and allowed four runs on three hits with one walk and one strikeout. Dalton Wiggins worked 5.0 innings and gave up one run on six hits with a pair of strikeouts. Kordell Antill pitched 1.0 inning and allowed one hit with one strikeout.
Ethan Doty (5-1) started and got the win for Otterbein. Doty threw 5.1 innings and gave up three runs on nine hits with one walk. Jaryd Murphy pitched 2.2 innings and gave up no runs on one hit. Collin Hoffman notched his fifth save of the season with 1.0 inning of shutout relief. Hoffman allowed one hit and walked one.
Snyder, Petrucci, Yenzi and Cottom each had two hits in the game for the Pioneers.
Otterbein will face Baldwin Wallace University in Saturday's championship game. The Cardinals need to beat Baldwin Wallace twice to claim the league crown.