A challenging end of the regular season continues for the Otis High School baseball team.
The Bulldogs 11-3 after winning 19-8 in extra innings at McClave on Monday. They are No. 6 in the 1A CHSAA Seeding and Selection Index, while McClave now is No. 10.
They play a doubleheader today, April 17, at Wiley, and still have games remaining against the likes of Flatirons Academy and Stratton.
Otis played a single game last Saturday at Merino, No. 4 in the 1A Index, losing 12-2 in six innings. It was 2-1 after the Bulldogs scored in the top of the third, but Merino scored eight unanswered runs before closing it out in the bottom of the sixth with two more.
Mitchell Stivers had a hit and scored both runs for Otis. Austin Hornung, Gavin Price and JJ Ward shared time on the hill for the Bulldogs.
The Bulldogs had a nice rebound win Monday after the long trip south to McClave. It took them a long time to get going, trailing 5-1 after four innings. They scored three in the sixth to pull to within 7-5, then tied it in the top of the seventh. McClave didn’t score in the home half, forcing extra innings.
Otis exploded for 12 runs in the top of the eighth for the win. McClave had 13 hits to nine for Otis, but the Cardinals committed nine errors.
Ward had two doubles and scored three runs, Tayte Smith two hits, three RBI and two runs, Stivers one hit and three runs, Hornung one hit, two RBI and two runs, Gracen Bechtle one hit, one RBI and two runs, Price one hit and three runs, Cambric Klinzmann one hit, one RBI and two runs, Milo Kendrick one RBI and one run, and Paxton Davis one run.