After their sweep at the hands of Rhodes last weekend, the Oglethorpe baseball team desperately needed to take two-out-of-three in their home-opening SCAC series with DePauw to put themselves in a decent position to advance to the SCAC Tournament next month. And with their backs against the wall, that's exactly what they did, defeating the Tigers, 6-3, in the rubber game of the series on Sunday.

After holding a 2-1 lead entering the seventh inning, the Petrels allowed two runs to fall behind 3-2. Just as it did in Game 2 last night, it appeared as if this one might slip away. However, Oglethorpe rallied for four runs over the next two innings to take the game back from the Tigers.

In the seventh, J.J. Rizzo and Andy Farrey led off with back-to-back singles. Two outs later, though, and the runners had only been advanced to second and third. But Rizzo scored the tying run on a wild pitch, and then Nick Manai, just back from injury this weekend, brought home Farrey with an RBI single to give the Petrels the lead back.

In the eighth, the Petrels expanded their lead. In another runners-at-second-and-third, two-out situation, they came through again. This time it was Farrey delivering the two-run single to give the Petrels all the cushion they would need.

Matched against the reigning SCAC pitcher of the year, Mark Hoban gave a very effective performance. He went seven innings, allowing three runs on six hits, walking just one and striking out nine.

He left the game in line for the tough-luck loss, having just given up back-to-back home runs to relinquish the lead in the seventh. His offense got his win back with two runs in the bottom of the inning. The win improves him to 6-5 on the year.

Manai and Farrey were the offensive standouts on the day for the Petrels, both going 2-for-4 with two RBIs. Farrey added a walk and scored a run.

The win improves the Petrels to 12-13 on the year, 2-4 in SCAC play. They will have a week off before their next conference series, which will be at home next weekend. Sewanee will come to town, with a doubleheader scheduled for Saturday and a single game for Sunday. First pitch on Saturday will be at 2 p.m.