FORT MYERS, Fla. – Otterbein scored seven runs in the top of the seventh Saturday to come from behind for a 9-8 win over Augustana at Terry Park. The Vikings fell to 8-2-1 on the spring, while the Cardinals improved to 5-4.

 

A Tyler Nunez (Byron HS, Byron, Ill.) double and Ryan Grannemann's (McHenry West HS, MacHenry, Ill.) RBI single gave Coach Greg Wallace's club a 1-0 lead after one.
 
Sophomore right-hander Matt Hoban (Monarch HS, Westminster, Colo.), making his first start of the season, retired the first six Otterbein batters he faced, but the Cardinals took the lead on Tyler Thompson's two-run single in the top of the third. Augustana answered with four in the bottom half. Nunez had a leadoff double and scored the tying run on a passed ball. Grannemann singled in the go-ahead run and freshman Josh Barker (Windsor HS, Severance, Colo.) knocked out Otterbein starter Ethan Doty with a two-run single that gave the Vikings a 5-2 lead.
 
Jake Huber's (Lockport HS, Homer Glen, Ill.) leadoff double sparked a two-run fourth. Gunnar Haskins (Alleman HS, Moline, Ill.) and Grannemann followed with singles. Grannemann's plated Huber to make it 6-2 and the senior catcher later scored on a wild pitch to put Augustana up 7-2.
 
Freshman Matt Helms' (Palatine HS, Palatine, Ill.) two-out RBI single in the sixth scored Grannemann to give the Vikings an 8-2 advantage.
 
Hoban retired 10 straight after Thompson's hit in the third, but ran into trouble in the seventh. He gave up singles to Luke Barber, Sam Edgell and Tim Snyder before exiting with an 8-3 lead in favor of classmate Josh Chamberlain (Legacy HS, Thornton). An error and a single led to two more runs and another single brought John Hayes (Cherry Creek HS, Greenwood Village, Colo.) out of the Viking bullpen. Thompson's sacrifice fly and Ben Beachy's RBI single made it 8-7 before Edgell's single to left scored Beachy and Dmitri Collaros with the tying and go-ahead runs.
 
Cardinal reliever Zach Beatty set Augustana down in order in the bottom of the seventh, but hit Haskins leading off the eighth. That brought Collin Hoffman out of the pen and the Otterbein closer retired six straight Vikings to close things out and earn his third save of the season.
 
Beatty (1-0) went 3 2/3 to get the win. Hayes suffered the loss, falling to 2-1 on the year. Grannemann finished 4-for-5 with three runs scored and three knocked in. Helms went 3-for-5 with an RBI and Nunez and Huber each had two hits and scored twice.
 
Augustana wraps up play at the Gene Cusic Collegiate Classic on Sunday, March 10 with a noon contest against Plymouth State.