WESTERVILLE, Ohio – The Otterbein baseball team racked up another piece of memorable program history Saturday at Fishbaugh Field, blowing out No. 25-ranked Marietta College 14-1 in the second game of a doubleheader to clinch the Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) regular-season title.

The Cardinals, overcoming a tough 5-1 loss in the first matchup of the afternoon, improve to 28-11 overall, finish 14-4 in OAC play and secure a third league title in as many years. Otterbein won the 2016 regular-season crown, the 2017 tournament championship and now claims the 2018 regular-season.

As a result, the Cards will host next week's four-team postseason event scheduled to run May 10-12 at Fishbaugh Field. They will be joined by No. 2 seed Marietta and some combination of Ohio Northern, Heidelberg and Baldwin Wallace, dependent on the result of Sunday's BW/John Carroll doubleheader.

Game 1:

The Pioneers (26-12, 12-6 OAC) opened the initial game by scoring twice in the first inning against Cardinal lefty Stevie Yuran. Otterbein had a prime opportunity with the bases loaded and no outs in the third, but Marietta side-armer David Stover escaped the jam unscathed by retiring the next three hitters.

The Cards then sliced that 2-0 deficit in half during the fifth frame, getting two runners in scoring position and crossing a run from a well-placed sacrifice bunt from Tyler Thompson. Otterbein had a runner at third for the next hitter before a wild fielder's choice double-play sequence ended things.

Marietta used the momentum to respond with a few insurance runs shortly thereafter, adding two in the sixth and then capping the scoring with a solo homer in the ninth. Otterbein center fielder Tim Snyder went 3 for 4 offensively in the contest while shortstop Ben Beachy and third baseman Connor Brett both had two hits each.

Game 2:

Otterbein regrouped nicely for a lopsided victory in the rematch, getting a 2-RBI single from Brett in the first and then three more in the second for an instant 5-0 lead. Highlighting the second frame was a 2-RBI double from Beachy, marking his 21st of the spring and a new Cardinal single-season record.

That cushion would be more than enough for the right arm of junior Johnny Putnam, who carried a one-hitter into the sixth inning and ultimately struck out seven batters over seven impressive innings. He walked just one and eventually gave way to closer Collin Hoffman.

Otterbein left little doubt with more offense in the later innings, finding a groove to post four in the sixth and another four in the eighth...  punctuated by a two-run homer from Pat Birrer on his Senior Day. Five players had multi-hit efforts, spearheaded by a 3 for 3 showing from Beachy and three RBI off Barber's bat.

Putnam improved to 4-1 on the mound while Beachy's 5 for 8 day elevates his batting average to .399 on the year.

Otterbein is slated to finish out the regular season Sunday afternoon with a home game against Denison at 3 p.m. More details regarding next week's OAC Tournament will be posted in the coming days.