DANVILLE, Va. – The No. 9 Salisbury University baseball team defeated Otterbein University 6-4 on Friday morning in an elimination game of the 2017 NCAA Division III Baseball Tournament. With the win the Sea Gulls will now advance to play on Saturday, May 20.

Salisbury (32-10) fell behind early but rallied back to take a 3-2 lead in the fourth inning. Robbie Jones, who finished the day as the team leader in RBI, drove in the maroon and gold's first three runs of the game.

In the top of the second trailing 2-1 Jones knocked an RBI double down the left field line scoring Tom LaBriola to cut the Cardinals (31-14) lead in half. Jones struck again in the fourth inning reaching on a fielding error but driving in two runs to give the Gulls a 3-2 lead.

After Otterbein knotted the game at 3-3 in the bottom of the fifth, Salisbury took the lead for good in the top of the seventh. The Sea Gulls plated three runs to take a 6-3 advantage with three innings left to play.

Pete Grasso opened the inning with a single through the left side followed by Jack Barry, who followed suit, knocking a single to left field giving the Gulls a runner in scoring position. Jay Perry plated the first run of the inning with an infield single that scored Grasso. After Brad Keith plated Barry with an RBI single to left Jones capped the inning's scoring sending a sacrifice fly to left plating Perry for the three-run lead.

That was the insurance Jeff Oster and Micah Wells needed as they both held the Cardinals bats in check and allowed only two runs from the second inning onward.

Oster picked up his eighth win of the season throwing six innings allowing two earned runs on six hits while striking out five batters. He recorded nine flyouts and four groundouts while surrendering only two walks.

Wells picked up his second save of the season, pitching the final three innings of the game allowing only two hits but more importantly no runs. He totaled two strikeouts in 11 batter faced and forced three flyouts and four groundouts.

Jones finished the game 2-for-4 with three RBI and a team-high two doubles while Perry completed his afternoon going 2-for-5 with an RBI and run scored.  

The Sea Gulls await to see who they will face on Saturday. Though the opponent will not be determined until play concludes on Friday, the first pitch of Salisbury's game for Saturday is scheduled for 2:30 p.m.