It was an interesting last day of the OAC regular-season.
 
John Carroll controlled its own destiny at the start of the day but as the action unfolded the Blue Streaks stood in a four-way tie for second at the end of Saturday. The Blue Streaks won the tiebreaker with the Yellow Jackets and will advance to their seventh-straight OAC Tournament next week.
 
Game One
Muskingum 9, John Carroll 4
 
John Carroll could not capitalize against Muskingum ace Derrick Barker in the first game. The Fighting Muskies got to Brandon Madder for five runs in the bottom of the third to take a three-run lead. The lost made the OAC Tournament picture all that more interesting.
 
Muskingum struck first in the bottom of the second. The Fighting Muskies were able to extend the inning on a Blue Streak error. Christian Leitenberger stole second on a strikeout. With the throw from catcher Jacob Schriner up Brett Robberts was able to come in on the play for the game's first run.
 
John Carroll answered back with three runs in the top of the third. Monroe Donnelly led off the frame with a double to left field. The JCU diamond men loaded the bases on a Rob Cifelli walk and a Bobby Sabatino single. David Crowley tied the game at one legging out an infield single. Tyler Gentile made it a 2-1 game with a sacrifice fly. Mark Huddle drove in the third run of the frame with a two-out single.
 
Muskingum struck for five runs in the bottom of the third to take the 6-3 lead. Leitenberger delivered the big hit in the frame with a two-out, two-run double to left field. Earlier in the frame, the Fighting Muskies received a RBI single from Vayden Wood and a sacrifice fly from Robberts. Muskingum scored its final run of the frame on a John Carroll error.
 
John Carroll looked to rally late striking for one in the top of the eight. Huddle led off the frame drilling a double to the fence in left center. He would come in two batters later on Mike Raschilla's RBI groundout. The run made it a 6-4 game.
 
Muskingum responded with three runs in its half of the eighth to make the score 9-4. Austin DeVore sparked the rally with a one-out triple to left center that was just out of the reach of a diving Cifelli.
 
Maddern took the loss falling to 4-3 on the year. The junior left-hander allowed six runs (three earned) in three innings of work.
 
Derrick Barker picked up the win improving to 3-3 on the year. The left-hander fired the complete game allowing four runs on 10 hits.
 
At the plate, John Carroll was led by Sabatino. The senior second baseman finished 3-for-4 and extended his hitting streak to 28 games. JCU also had multiple hits from Gentile and Huddle.
 
Game Two
John Carroll 7, Muskingum 4
 
Drew Doring improved to a single-season JCU-best 10-0 as John Carroll won the second game of the twin bill 7-4.
 
Faced with a potential must-win John Carroll wasted no time jumping out to a lead in game two of the twin bill.
 
Cifelli and Sabatino started the game off with back-to-back singles. For Sabatino, the single extended the senior's hitting-streak to 29 games. Crowley took care of the rest mashing a home run to right field for the early 3-0 lead.
 
John Carroll extended its lead to 4-0 in the second inning. Raschilla led off the frame reaching on an error. He would come in on Cifelli's one-out, opposite field double.
 
Muskingum scored its run in the bottom of the third. The Fighting Muskies were able to take advantage of a JCU error to bring around Dallas Allen on a fielder's choice.
 
John Carroll answered right back with a run in the top of the fourth. Raschilla started the rally again reaching on a leadoff walk. He advanced to third on back-to-back bunts from Patrick Scholla and Cifelli with the latter being able to leg out a single out of the effort. Raschilla came in on Sabatino's sacrifice fly.
 
The Blue Streaks added two insurance runs in the seventh inning. Gentile legged out a double to lead off the inning. He would come in to score on Schriner's sacrifice fly. Raschilla drove in the other run in the frame with a two-out single.

The Fighting Muskies made things interesting in the ninth with a three-run frame. Cifelli clinched the game tracking down a long fly ball in the gap.
 
Doring fired eight innings allowing one unearned run on six hits. He has not allowed an earned run in his last two starts.
 
Cifelli led the way at the plate going 4-for-6.
 
John Carroll plays top-seeded Heidelberg in its OAC Tournament opener on Thursday, May 7. Game time will be finalized and post when available.