BEREA, Ohio – The defending Ohio Athletic Conference tournament champion and top-seeded Baldwin Wallace University baseball team dropped the opening game of the 2019 OAC Tournament 2-1 to fourth-seeded Otterbein University on Fisher Field.
BW (25-14) scored one run on seven hits while Otterbein (24-16-1) plated two runs off just three hits, one run in each of the first two innings of play.
Junior designated hitter Sam Sustersic (Richfield/Revere) was the lone Yellow Jacket to record two hits, including a home run in the bottom of the ninth inning for BW's only run of the game. Senior catcher Asa Adams (Sarver, Pa./Knoch), senior second baseman Kyle Pennington (Wadsworth), senior first baseman Philip Wells (Buffalo, N.Y./Saint Joseph's Collegiate), junior left fielder Jacob Bonner (Akron/Archbishop Hoban) and sophomore third baseman Tony LoParo (Avon/Elyria Catholic) combined for the other five Yellow Jacket hits with one apiece.
On the mound, senior American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA)/Rawlings All-Mideast Region pitcher Danny Cody (Medina/Brecksville-Broadview Heights) got the nod for the opening day of the tournament. The senior allowed two runs (one earned) off just three hits and recorded five strikeouts in 6.1 innings. Senior left-handed pitcher Jack Raines (Akron/Archbishop Hoban) threw 2.2 innings of scoreless and hitless relief, notching five punch outs.
The Yellow Jackets will take on either second-seeded and co-regular season champion Heidelberg University or third-seeded Ohio Northern University in a consolation game on Friday, May 10, at 12:30 p.m. on Fisher Field.
