Game One Box l Game Two Box 

Springfield, Ohio – The Oberlin College baseball team earned a 5-4 win in game one, but the Wittenberg Tigers scored three runs late in game two to come away with a 6-3 win against the Yeomen on Sunday afternoon at Carleton Davidson Stadium.

In the opener the Yeomen rallied from an early deficit and got solid relief pitching out of the bullpen to preserve the win. Senior Phil Brua celebrated his birthday by earning a four-out save for his fourth lockdown of the year. Classmate Ryan Mouch earned the hold by throwing 1.1 innings of scoreless ball.

Oberlin scored in the top of the first as Ben Kauder, who started the game with a double, eventually would score on a wild pitch. The Tigers responded with three runs on five hits in the bottom of the frame.

The Yeomen added single tallies in the second and third to get back to even. OC scored on another wild pitch in the second and in the third senior Max Phinney continued his tear at the plate as he singled up the middle to score Ben Puterbaugh, who reached with a double to right center.

OC would break the tie by scoring two more in the fourth. Freshman Mike McDonald led off the frame with a double and would later score on Ben Kauder's double. Rookie Zach Kisley followed with a single through the left side to score Kauder and in turn chase Tigers' starter Jonathan Long (2-3) from the game.

After the rocky first inning Oberlin starter Brandon Cantrill (2-1) settled down as he got through 4.1 innings to earn his second win of the season. Following the first inning, the Tigers managed just three hits off of the senior from Collins, Ohio.

Wittenberg made it a one-run game in the fifth as two Oberlin errors resulted in a run coming across, but Mouch did a good job of pitching out of the jam and leaving the bases loaded. Mouch a native of Toledo, Ohio, registered two quick outs in the sixth before back-to-back hits resulted in Head Coach Adrian Abrahamowicz turning to Brua.

A leadoff walk to start the seventh for Wittenberg could have came back to haunt the Yeomen, but following a sac bunt Grant Goodwin lined into a double play to end the game.

After a great bullpen effort in game one, it was the pen that let the Yeomen down in the nightcap as Wittenberg scored two in the fifth and three in the sixth to come away with the win.

The Tigers pushed across a run in the bottom of the second, but it took the Yeomen just two pitches in the top of the third to get back to even as Zach Jaspers led off the frame with a triple and scored on a sac fly by Kauder.

Ben Puterbaugh, who went 4-for-4 in the game, gave the Yeomen a 2-1 lead in the top of the fifth as his single to left scored Kauder.

Unfortunately, the Yeomen lead was short-lived as the Tigers' Matt Hampp belted a two-run home run off OC reliever Mattie Dedoes in the home half of the inning.

In the sixth the Yeomen tied things up at three on Jaspers' RBI single to left, however, the inning came to an abrupt halt when he was caught stealing third on a walk to Kauder.

Rookie reliever Mike McDonald recorded two quick outs in the sixth, but things took a turn for the worse in a hurry as Wittenberg senior Ray Noe hit a triple to right field and scored on a passed ball. Two more hits resulted in two more runs for the Tigers.

Oberlin tried to threaten in the seventh as Puterbaugh and Cantrill reached on a pair of one-out singles. However, Phinney's hard-hit line drive was caught by the third baseman and Witjes followed with a groundout to second to end it.

The Yeomen will play their first games of the season at Dill Field on Thursday afternoon against Capital University. First pitch is set for 2 p.m.