MARIETTA, Ohio – Late inning heroics, may be the best or worst thing about the game of baseball depending on which dugout you happen to be sitting in. The Mount Union Purple Raiders have been in the right dugout so far in the Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament.
The Purple Raiders (22-16 overall), thanks to Jeff Bennett's walk-off homerun, will advance to the Championship Round of the tournament and will play whichever team emerges from the loser's bracket at noon Saturday at Don Schaly Stadium.
This is Mount Union's first trip the Championship Round since 2002. Bennett's first homerun of the season gave Mount Union a 4-2 victory over Otterbein University (25-16) Friday afternoon in Marietta.
“We never gave up all the way through,” Mount Union head coach Paul Hesse said. “That has been our M.O. throughout this tournament. Get good pitching, minimize the damage, and put ourselves in position to come back late and win it.”
Ryan Sason (4-0) picked up the win, on the bump, for Mount Union. Sason came on in relief of Sam Clarke who pitched 2.2 innings of two run, seven hit baseball. Dominic Porretta (2-3) was hit with the loss giving up three runs on three hits.
The game saw pitchers battle throwing zeros on the scoreboard for the first three innings. In the fourth inning Otterbein broke the scoreless contest. Billy Harkenrider led off with a single. Seconds later Harkenrider was sacrificed to second, but was cut down at third base on a ground ball to shortstop.
That left the Cardinals with a man on first and two away. A wild pitch allowed Sean Kettering to advance to second before being singled in by Thomas Linder.
In the fifth frame, Otterbein tacked on another run. Ty Compton walked to lead off the inning, was sacrificed to second and hurried around the bases to score on a Tyler Kent single.
Mount Union got on the scoreboard in the seventh inning cutting the Otterbein lead in half with a two out rally. C.J. Stotler doubled into left center field before Ricky Olasz came through with a single to plate Stotler.
In the ninth inning, the first two runners reached based. Then two outs were recorded before Bennett's blast sent the Mount Union dugout into euphoria and sending his team into the Championship Round.
“The game was playing out the way we wanted it too,” Otterbein head coach George Powell. “And it didn't work out. It's baseball. It happens unfortunately and it's not the first time it happened.”
Otterbein will play the winner of the John Carroll University at Marietta College loser's bracket game tentatively scheduled for 5 pm Friday evening.
