By Nicholas Huenefeld

Special to the Sentinel-Tribune

PEMBERVILLE — For the second time this season, the Otsego baseball team knocked off state-ranked Eastwood, this time on the road as the Knights used a five-run fourth inning to produce a 6-3 victory.

“I think we’ve shown that when we’re engaged and ready to play, we can beat anybody,” Otsego coach Chase Welker said. “We’ve also had times this year when we weren’t engaged, and we’ve proven we can lose to anybody.

“This, like the first victory, shows when we play the right way, we can be a good team and beat anybody. Hopefully we can keep that mentality going into the tournament.”

While Otsego scored first on a Mason Roe RBI single in the second, No. 12 Eastwood responded to take a 2-1 lead in the third behind an Andrew Badenhop RBI single to center and a Drew Kachmarik RBI double to left.

The ultimate momentum-swinging stretch then came just a half inning later. Otsego put runners on first and second behind singles from Jaxon Jeremy and Devin Silva against Eastwood’s Paul Lautzenheiser.

Back-to-back balks then pushed across the game-tying run and placed Silva on third as Lautzenheiser recorded a strikeout for the second out.

“We would have had a shot to get out of the inning,” Eastwood coach Kevin Leady said. “We went from back-to-back balks, from first and second to both scoring basically. That was killer.

“We had just taken the lead, had all the momentum and had a real good shot to work out of that inning. They really took advantage of those miscues there, took the momentum, got some clutch hits and pretty much ran away with it right then.”

Following that, Keegan Mentrek delivered a go-ahead single and Easton Jeremy walked. Another balk scored Mentrek. Following an intentional walk, Cohen Feehan and Bodde Simon produced back-to-back RBI singles for a 6-2 lead.

“We just did a really good job of two-out hitting,” Welker said. “That’s the beauty of baseball, there’s no clock. You have to get that third out. Our guys took advantage of that and were able to string some hits together and have a big inning.”

Otsego (14-8, 6-5 NBC) spread its offensive firepower around as eight of their batters combined for the team’s nine hits. Jaxon Jeremy was the lone player with multiple hits as he finished 2-for-4 with a pair of runs. The Knights also drew three walks.

“It’s great,” Feehan said of his team’s season sweep. “We’re resilient and battle against tough teams. That’s what we have to do in the playoffs. We have to keep it going and stay consistent.

“This was our first time facing (Lautzenheiser). We didn’t really know what to expect. We just stuck to our rules, put the ball in play and good things happened.”

Eastwood (17-3, 9-3 NBC) attempted to mount a rally in the seventh as Lautzenheiser singled and came around to score on a fly out combined with an error with two outs, but it wasn’t enough.

“Otsego was just really good today,” Leady said. “They battled at the plate, Feehan threw incredible. You just have to tip your hat to them.”

Feehan went the distance on the mound for Otsego, allowing just five hits and a walk while striking out six. One of the three runs he allowed was unearned.

“I was able to move my pitches around,” Feehan said. “That’s what I’ve always done. I’m not the hardest thrower, but if you move them around, you can get guys out, and that’s what I did today.”

With Eastwood’s loss and Lake’s 10-3 road win over Genoa, the Flyers moved back into sole possession of the Northern Buckeye Conference lead at 9-2.