Game One Box l Game Two Box

Mesa, Arizona – One day after getting swept by Elmhurst, the Oberlin College baseball team returned the favor to Knox College as they upended the Prairie Fire 5-4 and 3-2 on Monday afternoon at the Gene Autry Park in Mesa, Arizona.

In a see-saw contest in game one, in what was just second appearance of the year, sophomore Brandon Cantrill earned the win with five scoreless innings of relief that saw him fan four while allowing just two hits.

The right-hander from Collins, Ohio entered the game in a nobody-out bases loaded jam in the third inning with Knox leading 4-3. On his first pitch he got Bob Dempster to hit into a 1-2-3 double play and then induced a groundout of Sam Magnuson to get the Yeomen out of the inning unscathed.

After falling behind 1-0 in the top of the first, the Yeomen answered with two runs in the bottom of the inning – with both coming on a sac bunt by #P.J. Carter that plated Ben Master and Brian Verne# all the way from second base as he was running on the pitch.

The Prarie Fire responded with three runs in the second, but Oberlin got a single tally back on an RBI ground out by Master in the home-half.

The score would remain 4-3 until the fifth inning when Jeremy Simon jumped started the inning with a perfectly executed hit-and-run that left runners on first and third with one out. Sophomore Ben Kauder followed Simon with his second hit of the game to score pinch runner Shane Hisner to tie the game. With Simon and Kauder now on the corners, the Yeomen worked a delayed double-steal to perfection as Kauder purposely got caught in a rundown – which allowed Simon to beat the relay throw to the plate for what proved to be the game-winning run.

In game two, rookie Drew Mixter picked up his second win in just three days as he worked 4.1 innings – allowing just two runs to go along with five strikeouts. Carter was also dominant in relief as he did not surrender a hit and struck out four in 2.2 innings to earn his first save of the season.

With scored tied at zero heading into the fourth inning, the Yeomen (4-8) busted out for three runs in the top of the frame as back-to-back run-producing hits by Simon and Cantrill accounted for all three Oberlin runs. Unfortunately, following a bunt single by Zach Berman the threat got short-circuited as Cantrill got caught stealing and Ryan Mouch hit into a double play.

Single tallies by Knox (0-11) in the fourth and fifth made things very interesting, but Carter sat-down the side in order in both the sixth and seventh to preserve the win.

The sweep evens up Oberlin's record during the trip to 3-3 and improves its overall mark to 4-8 on the season.