Tucson, AZ – The Oberlin College baseball team dropped game one, 8-7, in nine innings before bouncing back with a commanding 11-5 win in game two against Hamline University on Saturday afternoon at the Kino Sports Complex in Tucson, Arizona.
 
The senior duo of Benjamin Whitener and Andrew Hutson had great production at the plate as Hutson finished 5-for-8 with a double and five runs scored, while Whitener was 4-for-8 with a double and six RBI. Sophomore Justin Cruz also had four hits in seven at-bats with two RBI and two runs scored.
 
The Yeomen trailed 5-1 through three innings but found a way to tie the game and ultimately take the lead before giving it back in the end.
 
Oberlin posted a three-run fourth to shrink its deficit to one. Following a run-producing single through the right side, a bunt base hit by Cruz loaded the bases for Ryan Bliss. The Wellington, Ohio, native finish 3-for-3 in the game, but this time he sent the run across on a sac fly to center. Blaise Dolcemaschio's RBI groundout would cap the scoring for the inning.
 
In the fifth Oberlin got back to even on Danny Baldocchi's sac fly to center field that plated Jeff Schweighoffer.
 
The Pipers would go back out in front with a single tally in the top of the sixth, but the Yeomen would take the lead with a pair of runs in the home-half of the inning. Bliss sent Cruz across the dish with a double to center and Dolcemaschio followed with a hard hit ball back up the box to put the Yeomen on top.
 
Freshman Milo Sklar entered on the mound in search of his first collegiate save, but with two outs and the potential game-tying run on third a critical Oberlin error extended the game.
 
Oberlin never threatened in the bottom of the seventh and Sklar shutdown the Pipers in the eighth. The Yeomen too went quietly in the bottom of the inning.
 
In the ninth the Pipers had runners on the corners with one out when Collin Olstad lifted a high pop up along the first-base fence line that Baldocchi caught on a dive, but Tyler Summers aggressively tagged up from third base and got under the tag of Dolcemaschio for what proved to be the game-winning run.
 
In the nightcap, sophomore Kyle Dominy gutted his way through 5.1 innings, allowing just two earned runs on five hits to earn his first win of the season. The Yeomen offense backed him with 14 hits and 11 runs.
 
The Yeomen took a 4-0 lead in the top of the third inning, scoring three runs in the frame with the big hit coming courtesy of Kyle Decker as he belted a two run home run over the wall in right center.
 
Hamline took advantage of two Yeomen errors and coupled them with three hits to cut the Oberlin lead to just one on the bottom of third.
 
The Yeomen pushed the lead back out to three in the top of the fifth, plating a pair of runs on three hits, but once again Hamline responded to get back within one, thanks to two errors.
 
However, Oberlin would leave no doubt in the eventual outcome, erupting for five runs in the top of the seventh. Whitener had a two-run double off the centerfield wall, while Cruz, Mitch Novak, and Decker each registered RBIs.
 
Julian Sawhill, who entered in the sixth, pitched around two walks in the seventh to secure his first save of the year.
 
The Yeomen are back in action tomorrow against Gustavus Adolphus. First pitch is set for 11 a.m. PST.