Box Score

Chandler, Ariz. – Sophomore Eric Knight got his first win of the season and senior Phil Brua recorded a three-inning save as the Oberlin College baseball team improved to 6-1 on their spring break trip by knocking off Middlebury College 4-3 on Tuesday afternoon.

Knight, who helped himself by going 2-for-4 with an RBI at the plate, pitched five strong innings on just two days rest. The 6-foot-3 sophomore allowed just three hits and one run while striking out five.

Brua worked the final three innings to registering his third save of the season and ninth of his career. He allowed just one hit and walked none. Of his 36 pitches – 25 went for strikes.

Joining Knight with two hits on the day were seniors Ben Puterbaugh and Max Phinney.

Oberlin got on the board in the bottom of the first thanks to Brandon Cantrill's two-out RBI single through the left side to score Puterbaugh. The Yeomen pushed another tally across in the fourth on rookie Steve DiNanno's sac fly to center that plated Phinney.

The Panthers would get on the board in the top of the fifth, but Oberlin responded by tacking on two more in the home half of the inning. The first came courtesy of Phinney's sac fly to right field before Knight's two-out single to left field that sent Cantrill across the dish.

Rookie Mike McDonald worked the sixth inning and ran into some trouble as Middlebury scored two runs on four hits. However, the sidearmer from Weston, Connecticut, was able to leave with the lead as the Panthers left two runners stranded.

In the seventh Brua was aided by Cantrill's arm he gunned down a would-be-base-stealer following a one-out single. From that point on Brua did the rest to get the Yeomen to 7-5 on the season.

Oberlin returns to action tomorrow afternoon with a traditional doubleheader against Williams College. First pitch is set for 1 p.m. PST/4 p.m. EST.