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John Carroll University Athletics

home of the Blue Streaks
Heaton Homer
Sean Moreno
Heaton homered to start Game 2 and the Blue Streaks' offense never relented afterwards.
1
John Carroll JCU 16-20-1
11
Winner Otterbein OTT 14-19
John Carroll JCU
16-20-1
1
Final
11
Otterbein OTT
14-19
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
John Carroll JCU 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 4 1
Otterbein OTT 0 1 0 1 1 2 6 11 15 0

W: T. Engard (3-1) L: Merrill, John (4-4)

12
Winner John Carroll JCU 17-20-1
8
Otterbein OTT 14-20
Winner
John Carroll JCU
17-20-1
12
Final
8
Otterbein OTT
14-20
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
John Carroll JCU 1 0 0 5 3 0 2 0 1 12 13 2
Otterbein OTT 2 0 2 0 2 2 0 0 0 8 7 1

W: Bennett, Jack (1-1) L: Z. Beatty (0-1) S: Michel, Nicholas (2)

Game Recap: Baseball | | Joe Ginley '16, SID

Baseball Clinches OAC Tournament Spot with Otterbein Split

WESTERVILLE, Ohio -- WESTERVILLE, Ohio -- A Saturday sweep put a heaping of pressure on John Carroll University Baseball on Sunday. 

Clinging to the sixth and final spot in the Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament, the Blue Streaks needed to win one game at Otterbein to punch a ticket to the postseason. (Per our calculations via the OAC's tournament seeding formula).

An 11-1 loss in Game 1 put the Blue Streaks on the brink of falling out of the postseason. 

But the men of Bobby Bell didn't panic, conquering the Cardinals, 12-8, sealing a trip to the tournament.

The official seeding will be released on Tuesday, following COVID-19 testing, so nothing is official per the conference as of now. Regardless, the Blue Streaks showed plenty of moxie in bouncing back from three straight losses. 

Game 1

After entering yesterday's second game in relief, John Merrill got the starting nod for Sunday's opener, Game 3 of the series. The game began innocently enough with a quiet first inning, but the Cardinals got to Merrill and on the board in the second.

Otterbein senior Matthew Gibson hammered a solo homer to right center, gaining an early lead for Otterbein. The Cardinals never surrendered the advantage. 

Travis Engard handled the JCU lineup with authority in the early goings. Erik Daugenti reached on a single in the second but was picked off. John Carroll was blanked through the first four innings. 

A pair of singles opened the bottom of the fourth for the Cardinals. After a sacrifice bunt, a walk loaded the bases. A wild pitch allowed a run to score, but Merrill bore down and got two outs to escape with the score at 2-0.

Logan LaMere halved the deficit in the fifth. The catcher blasted a solo shot to left, narrowing the score to 2-1.

Otterbein stole the run back in the bottom of the frame. A pair of singles and a throwing error set the stage for a sacrifice fly to left field. After the unearned run in the fifth, Otterbein plated two earned runs in the bottom of the sixth. Brayden Carter tabbed a 1-out double, setting the stage for Luke Barber to launch a 2-run homer to left field, upping the lead to 5-1. 

After Engard shut down JCU in the top of the seventh, the Otterbein bats did the rest.

The Cardinals plated six runs in a frenetic bottom of the inning, thanks to five hits, a hit by pitch, and a walk. The Blue Streaks only managed one out before Otterbein finalized the 11-1 run-rule win. 

Merrill accepted the loss, dropping to 4-4. Engard got the win, pitching 7 excellent innings, allowing just 1 run on 4 hits. Joseph Olsavsky, Daugenti, LaMere, and Michael Anderson got the hits. 

Game 2 

With their backs against the wall, JCU's seniors stepped into the limelight. Sam Heaton opened things off with a solo homer from the leadoff spot, with his moonshot over the fence in right, granting JCU an early 1-0 lead. 

But Otterbein wasted no time in providing an answer. The hosts drew a walk, hit by pitch, and walk to load the bases with no outs. Another walk evened the score at one, and a hit by pitch got a lead for the Cardinals. Jon Ambro exited early, giving way to Jack Bennett. The Blue Streaks' stud reliever struck out two Cardinals to escape the jam with limited damage. 

Matthew Thiel singled in the second and Henry Haracz doubled in the third, but neither scored. Otterbein did manage to manufactured two runs in the third. Brayden Quincel pumped a homer to left for an insurance run. Dmitri Collaros tripled and then scored on an RBI groundout. 

Sensing danger, the JCU bats came alive in the fourth. Tyler Cyrus took one for the team with a 1-out hit by pitch, opening the drama. Victor Glaser singled up the middle and Thiel walked, juicing the bases. Otterbein called to the bullpen, but it didn't matter. Anderson walked to bring in Cyrus and Heaton doubled down the line in left to plate Thiel and Glaser, evening things up. As clutch as ever, Joe Olsavsky singled up the middle to bring in Heaton and Anderson, retaking the lead for the visitors. 

Bennett walked a pair of batters in the bottom of the stanza, but Henry Darrow entered and mowed down his batter to preserve the lead. 

John Carroll added 3 critical insurance runs in the fifth. Cyrus again played the sparkplug, singling through the left side with 2 outs. Glaser and Thiel walked, loading the bases. Anderson entered and lofted a hit over the head of the center fielder, who misjudged it. Anderson raced to third with a bases-clearing 3-run hit, expanding JCU's advantage to 9-4. 

Otterbein snagged two of the runs back in the bottom of the frame. Following a walk and a single, Otterbein slotted an RBI single to left center, slimming the score to 9-5. Erich Payne entered and got an out, but it was a sac fly, further narrowing the lead. Payne stranded the runner on first with another flyout. 

Following a quiet JCU top of the sixth, Matthew Aukerman entered in the bottom of the sixth after a quick outing yesterday. The Hudson native got two outs, but a single started trouble. On another single to center, the JCU center fielder overthrew the play at third, allowing a run to score and the runner to advance to third. That runner scored on a wild pitch. The Cardinals kept going with a pair of walks, prompting Bobby Bell to call to the bullpen, this time to Maxwell Schumaker. The sophomore walked his first batter but garnered a groundout to get out of the inning.

Needing every run, the Blue Streaks didn't relent in the seventh. Daugenti clobbered a double to left center to open the inning, and Tyler Cyrus singled, sending runners to the corners. Desperate for the win, Otterbein inserted Ethan Doty, the starter from Game 2 yesterday. After slinging 90 pitches yesterday, the righty made a brave effort on the bump. Doty notched a strikeout before getting a perfect double play grounder. It only garnered one out, though, and the Blue Streaks got Daugenti home. Anderson then singled up the middle, sending Thiel to second. On an ensuing pickoff play at first, the ball sailed wide, allowing Thiel to score. Doty then ended the inning with a grounder to first. 

Nicholas Michel entered in the seventh and promptly coaxed three outs. In response, Otterbein summoned its starter from Game 1 on Saturday, Collin Hoffman, for the top of the eighth. After pitching six innings on Saturday, Hoffman cruised through the inning with a 1-2-3 outing. Michel stayed strong in the bottom of the frame, allowing a single and a walk but tabbing a groundout and a flyout to send JCU into the ninth with an 11-8 lead. 

Even after 103 pitches yesterday, Hoffman returned for the ninth. Leading off, Daugenti doubled down the line in left. Cyrus singled to place runners at the corners. After a pickoff and a strikeout, a passed ball allowed Daugenti to sneak across the plate. 

Heading into the ninth, the Blue Streaks enjoyed a 12-8 lead, with the game in Michel's mitt. The Akron native didn't disappoint. 

The senior left no doubt in the final inning. Michel slammed the door, striking out the side in impressive fashion to end a long, wacky game and weekend.

Bennett was credited with the win, advancing to 1-1 on the year, striking out 4 in 3.1 innings. Michel was outstanding, allowing just 1 hit and striking out 4 batters in 3 scoreless innings. 

At the plate, Cyrus brought the boom, with a 3-for-4 day with 2 runs scored. Daugenti hit 2-for-5 with two runs. Anderson thrived with a 2-for-4 game with 4 RBI. Heaton also killed it with a 2-for-5 afternoon with 2 runs and 3 RBI in Game 2. JCU finished with 13 hits, six for extra bases. 

John Carroll ends the regular season with a 16-20-1 overall record, 13-19-1 in OAC play. The Blue Streaks last reached the OAC Tournament in 2017. This year's tourney has been expanded to 6 teams because of COVID-19. 
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