Oberlin, Ohio – The Oberlin College baseball team was down to its final strike in game two, but junior outfielder Justin Cruz game through with a game-tying RBI double in the bottom of the ninth before delivering the game-winning hit in the 11^th as the Yeomen completed the doubleheader sweep of the visiting Hiram College Terriers with a 2-1 win. Oberlin won the lid-lifter 11-4.
 
It was a tale of two games as the Yeomen scored in every inning of game one, belting out 14 hits en route to relatively easy victory.
 
However, things were much different in the nightcap as the Terriers pitching combination of Brandon Chesmar and Ryan Fedor had the Yeomen baffled for the first 26 outs of the ball game.
 
The Yeomen ninth started with Brian Carney reaching on a Hiram error, but following a sac bunt and a strikeout Cruz stepped in with pinch runner Mike Masella at second. After going ahead in the count 2-0, Cruz took two strikes from Fedor, but then smoked the fifth pitch of the at-bat down the third base line to give Oberlin new life.
 
Charlie Goetz, who also pitched in game one gave up just one hit in the 10^th, but the Yeomen also went quietly in the bottom of the frame. Sophomore Sean Kiley came in to work the 11^th and after a duck-snort single to start the frame he would work through the Terriers lineup with no trouble to earn his first win of the year.
 
Sophomore Quin Butler led off the home-half of the 11^th with a hard-hit single down the third base line. Pinch runner Darren Zaslau would then advance to third with nobody out on two wild pitches. After back-to-back intentional walks to load the bases, Fedor registered a punchout, but Cruz was clearly ready to go home as he stepped in and sent the first pitch he saw to deep left field to complete the sweep.
 
Kyle Dominy and Chesmar were locked in a pitchers' duel through the front seven innings of the game. The junior southpaw from Phoenix, Arizona, went 7.2 innings, allowing just five hits and two walks. The lone Terrier run was also charged to his account.
 
Hiram broke the scoreless tie in the top of the eighth as Dominy ran into some trouble after two were away in the inning as he retired the first two hitters on just five pitches.  After a single and a walk, he was lifted from the game, but his bullpen mates could not come through as the next two Hiram hitters reached via a hit-by-pitch and a bases-loaded walk to give them the 1-0 lead.
 
Dominy, who was ultimately taken off the hook, threw 86 pitches with 57 going for strikes.
 
Cruz finished the game 3-for-5 with a walk while driving in both of the Yeomen's runs. Butler and Brendan Mapes added two hits each to Oberlin's nine in the contest. The two teams combined to leave 26 runners on base in the game.
 
In game one the Yeomen started hot and never took their foot off the gas. Sam Harris, who made his return from the injured list, went 3-for-4 with two runs scored, as did rookie Jake Reynolds who also added two RBI as the duo spearheaded the offensive attack.
 
Blaise Dolcemaschio, Masella, Ian Dinsmore, and Cruz additionally had two hits each in the win.
 
Sophomore Milo Sklar improved to 3-0 on the bump as he worked 5.1 innings, surrendering two hits, two runs and two walks to go along with two strikeouts. He threw 51 strikes on 76 pitches.
 
The Yeomen plated a pair in the first on a wild pitch and a sac fly by Carney before adding a single tally in the second on Masella's two-out check-swing single that went over the third basemen's head to plate Reynolds.
 
Oberlin would really break the game open with a four-run third as Dolcemaschio and Isaac Goldman each had sac flies before Reynolds rapped a towering two-run home run that soared over the trees in left field for his second long ball of the season.
 
Hiram would scratch out a pair in the top of the fourth to make it a 7-2 game, but the Yeomen responded with solo runs in the fourth and fifth innings and two in the sixth. The Terriers would add two in the seventh, but the eventual outcome was never in doubt.
 
Carney had a two-out run-producing single in the bottom of the fourth and Cruz collected an RBI double down the left field line in the fifth. In the sixth, Dolcemaschio doubled down the right field line to score Dinsmore and he would later come around to score on a passed ball to cap the Yeomen's production.
 
With the sweep, the Yeomen moved to 10-11 overall and 2-0 in the NCAC East. Hiram dropped to 3-17 and 0-6 in conference action.
 
Oberlin will be back in action this weekend when they travel to Gambier, Ohio for a critical four-game NCAC East series with Kenyon College. First pitch on Saturday and Sunday is set for 12 p.m.