Box Score

FT. MYERS, Fla. - The Bethel Royals ended their spring break trip to southwest Florida today, but despite their best come from behind efforts, the Royals fell to the Otterbein Fighting Cardinals by a score of 6-5.

After a scoreless first inning, Bethel got on the scoreboard first with a run in the bottom of the second inning by Bob Tokar (Jr., Elk River, Minn.). The Cardinals evened the score in the top of the third inning with a run off of starting pitcher Travis Adams (Sr., Chanhassen, Minn.). Adams pitched six innings, giving up five runs, three of which were earned, and striking out three.

Otterbein took the lead in the top of the fourth inning, then added to it with three more runs in the top of the sixth inning. It wasn't until the bottom of the sixth that Bethel answered, as Jay Slick (Fr., River Falls, Wis.) had an RBI single to score Mark Therrien (Jr., Spring Lake Park, Minn.), who reached base with a two-out triple.

The Cardinals added another run in the top of the eighth inning, proving to be the insurance run they would need as the Royals went on to score three runs in the bottom of the inning. Tim Oesterlin (Jr., Rochester, Minn.) and Erik Anderson (So., Arden Hills, Minn.) led off with a pair of singles and moved into scoring position on a ground out by Therrien. Slick singled again to score Oesterlin, and then Anderson scored on a wild pitch. After a sacrifice fly by Tokar to move Slick to third, pinch hitter Kirk Darling (So., Kalamazoo, Mich.) doubled to bring in Slick and give the Royals their runs for the inning. Unfortunately, it would be all they would get as they were unable to put any baserunners on in the bottom of the ninth.

Bethel finishes its Florida trip 7-5 to bring the team to an even 8-8 on the season. The Royals are scheduled to return north to begin conference play on Saturday, March 28, against St. Thomas at the Metrodome beginning at 7 p.m.