A sacrifice fly in the top of the 10th pushed Otterbein past the Big Red on Wednesday night in Granville, Ohio.

Denison carried a two-run lead into the ninth inning. After giving up a lead-off single to Pat Birrer, sophomore pitcher Perley Provost struck Tyler Kent out looking for the first out of the inning.  Jake Simmerman followed by drawing a walk to put the game-tying run on base. However, that run was quickly erased when Sam Frazen fired a strike to Duncan Moran to pick Simmerman off as first.

Down to their final out, the Cardinals shrunk the deficit to one when Stephan Hernon knocked in Birrer with a base hit through the right side. Hernon was lifted from the game following his single for pinch runner James Tennenbaum. J.C. Gibson tied the game at 7-7 with a double to left center that scored Tennenbaum from first.

Senior Jake Meegan opened the bottom of the ninth with a bunt single, while a Tanner Johnson sacrifice moved the game-winning run into scoring position. Ben Hamilton intentionally walked Noah Hahn before being replaced by Caleb Norton. After Meegan stole third to put runners at the corners, Norton was instructed to load the bases with an intentional free pass to Eric Zmuda. With the bags full, Norton got Frazen to pop out to catcher Mark Walton in foul territory. The Otterbein hurler escaped the jam by inducing a ground ball to second, forcing extra innings.

The Cardinals re-took the lead in the 10th when Simmerman plated Mitch Stotler with a sacrifice fly to center field. Moran gave the Big Red a chance with a two-out single to center. Meegan followed with a double down the left line that moved pinch runner Nick Pettigrew to third. Norton locked up his third win of the year with a pop up to second for the final out of the game.

Otterbein jumped out to a 2-0 lead but a pair of three spots in the fourth and fifth put the home team in front 6-2. The Cards closed the gap to one with a solo run in the sixth and two more in the seventh, but the Big Red answered with a single run in the seventh to push the score to 7-5.

Meegan finished 3-for-5 with a double and two stolen bases, raising his total to 16 on the season. Connor Green went 2-for-4 with three RBIs and a run, while Jack Blanchard also had two hits and drove in a run. Johnson reached base three times (triple, walk, hit by pitch) and scored three runs, while Zmuda also touched the dish twice. Andrew Bruss suffered the loss after giving up a run in a third of an inning.

Birrer led Otterbein with three hits, while Walton and Hernon had two hits apiece. Walton and Birrer each scored twice, while Simmerman drove in three runs. Norton scattered two hits in 1.2 innings out of the pen.

The Big Red falls to 21-10 on the year, while the Cardinals improve to 25-7 on the year. Denison returns to action on Friday when they travel to Wabash for the final North Coast Athletic Conference West series of the season. Game one on Friday is slated to start at 1 p.m.