Tucson, AZ – The Oberlin College baseball team opened its 10-game spring break trip, falling 14-4 to Carthage College before bouncing back with a 9-5 victory against Macalester College on Saturday afternoon at the Kino Sports Complex.
 
With the split the Yeomen now sit at 5-1 on the season with eight more games on the horizon in the desert sun.
 
Macalester Recap
 
Junior Sean Kiley got the start on the bump and fought through early command issues to move to 2-0 on the year. The Studio City, California, native worked 5.2 innings, allowing just two hits and one earned run (three total) on 106 pitches. He struck out seven, but walked six and hit one.
 
The Yeomen took a 2-0 lead in the second inning as Brendan Mapes had an RBI single and Parker Goldstein would also score on a 1^st-and-3^rd double steal.
 
However, the Scots would answer back in the bottom of inning, plating three runs without a hit. They would load the bases on three consecutive walks, and an error in the outfield would allow all three runners to come home. 
 
After the miscues, Kiley composed himself and sat down the next 10 Scots' hitters in order before he departed with two outs in the sixth.
 
The Yeomen would recapture the lead in the fourth, posting four runs with two outs. Following a bases-loaded walk to Justin Cruz, junior Sam Harris came through with a clutch two-out three-run double down the left field line to make it 6-3 in favor of Oberlin.
 
OC would add some key insurance runs, plating two in the seventh before posting a single tally in the eighth. Goldstein served a two-run single through the right side to send Harris and pinch runner Maxx McGee across the dish. In the eighth, McGee would rack up an RBI of his own with a single back up the box.
 
The Scots tried to chip away at the 9-3 deficit, but Nicholas Morgan pitched around a couple of tough breaks in the eighth in to leave the bases loaded, while Joe Greenberg completed the job in the ninth. Senior southpaw Charlie Goetz was the first reliever out of the pen and he stymied the Scots' hitters, tossing 1.1 innings of hitless ball to go along with two punchouts.
 
The Yeomen belted out 13 hits in the game, led by Mapes' 4-for-5 effort. Quin Butler went 3-for-3 with a walk, while Goldstein had a pair of hits with two RBI and a run scored.
 
Carthage Recap
 
The Yeomen and Red Men posted zeros across the board in the first three innings, but things would unravel for the Yeomen in the home-half of the fourth.
 
The Red Men would touched up Oberlin sophomore starter David Gaetano for five runs in the frame on four hits, two walks and an error. Alex Letto delivered a two-run double down the left field line and Ryan Kramer also had a two-RBI single to left.
 
Oberlin cut into the lead, responding with two runs in the top of the fifth. Butler roped an RBI triple to left and he would score on a misplay by the Red Men's shortstop.
 
However, the Yeomen were unable to keep it there as Carthage answered right back with three more runs in the bottom of the inning. The Red Men would continue to swing it, tacking on three in the sixth, one in the seventh, and two in the eighth to win by the 10-run rule.
 
Oberlin's single tally in the sixth came from Brian Carney as he doubled to right and would later trot home on a sacrifice fly to center by senior classmate Mike Masella. Masella's co-captain Justin Cruz would add another sac fly in the seventh to send Butler home and cap the game's scoring for the Yeomen.
 
Milo Sklar led Oberlin's seven-hit effort at the plate, as he was 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored.
 
Tim Sulik got the win for the Red Men as he went six strong innings, allowing three runs on six hits as he fanned five Yeomen hitters.
 
Gaetano falls to 1-1 on the season as he worked 3.2 innings, surrendering five hits, five runs (four earned), and five walks with one strikeout.
 
The Yeomen return to action tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. MST against Luther College before doing battle with Buena Vista University at 1:30 p.m. MST.