Otterbein 7, Ohio Wesleyan 6

April 30, 2008

Senior first baseman Caleb Douce (Caledonia/River Valley) lined a pinch-hit, 2-run single in the top of the ninth inning as Ohio Wesleyan pared a 7-2 deficit to 7-6, but Otterbein held off the Bishop rally to take a non-conference win on Wednesday in Westerville.

With the Bishops trailing, 7-2, senior outfielder Joey McDaniel (Dublin/Scioto) opened the ninth inning with a single. Senior second baseman Jerrell Johnson (Shaker Heights) then grounded to second base, but Cardinal shortstop Ben Titus mishandled the flip from second baseman Brandon Mauck for an error, with both Bishop runners safe on the play. Freshman outfielder Scott Wise (Delaware/Hayes) singled in McDaniel to make it 7-3, and a walk to freshman outfielder Zach Frentsos (Delaware/Hayes) loaded the bases with nobody out. After junior shortstop Logan Hronis (Rocky River/St. Edward) popped up for the first out, sophomore third baseman Eric McComas (Beverly Hills, Mich./Birmingham Groves) followed with a chopper up the middle that grazed the glove of Otterbein pitcher Alex Hayes and died in front of Titus, who had no play anywhere as Johnson scored. Douce's single scored Frentsos and Wise, making it 7-6 and chasing Hayes in favor of J.J. Mathews, who struck out senior first baseman A.J. Dote (Columbus/Worthington Kilbourne) and retired freshman infielder Eric Livingston (Delaware/Hayes) on an infield grounder to end the game.

Ohio Wesleyan had taken a 1-0 lead in the fourth as Frentsos led off with a walk and moved to second on Hronis's infield out. After a walk to McComas, senior outfielder Brent Wilkins (Fairview Park/Fairview) hit a grounder which took a bad hop past Cardinal first baseman Brian Hiscox into right field, with Frentsos scoring on the play.

The Bishops made it 2-0 in the fifth when McDaniel led off with a single, moved to second on a sacrifice, took third on an infield out, and scored when Frentsos hit a ball to shallow center that fell in front of a diving effort by Cardinal centerfielder Charlie Edwards.

Otterbein evened the game at 2-2 on Hiscox's homer down the leftfield line in the sixth.

The Cardinals took the lead in the bottom of the eighth, going up 3-2 on Mauck's leadoff homer. Chris Kovanda followed with a single, moved to second on a wild pitch, took third on an infield out, and after Hiscox was intentionally walked, both runners scored on a double by Dan Lassak. Sophomore catcher Steve Ruygrok (Centennial, Colo./Cherry Creek) then picked pinch-runner A.J. Barnes off second base for the second out, but a walk to John Sansbury and a single by Aaron Hutchison kept the inning alive before Titus singled to center, scoring Sansbury and sending Hutchison to third. With Brandon Gessner hitting, Hutchison moved to second on a wild pitch, with Hutchison taking a sizable lead toward the plate before retreating to third. Ruygrok threw to third base attempting to get Hutchison off the bag, but the throw hit Hutchison and caromed into short leftfield, with Hutchison scoring on the play for a 7-2 Cardinal lead.

Frentsos and McDaniel each collected 2 hits for Ohio Wesleyan.

McDaniel, the third of 4 Ohio Wesleyan pitchers, was charged with the loss.

Jeremy Williams was the winning pitcher in relief for Otterbein.

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