Oberlin, Ohio – The Oberlin College baseball team opened the season with a sweep of Capital University at Dill Field, winning both games by 8-7 counts with game two being called in the bottom of the eighth inning due to darkness.
 
It was an impressive collegiate debut for freshman Jacob Thompson as he powered the Yeomen lineup by going 6-for-9 with two home runs, a triple, five RBIs, and three runs scored, totaling 14 total bases on the day.
 
Thompson also got the start on the bump in game two, earning his first-collegiate win after going five innings, allowing just one run on one hit.
 
In game one the Yeomen scored a pair of runs in each of the first two innings. Thompson got the scoring going with an RBI triple to the gap in right center and Jack McGowan would plate him with a single to center.
 
After a Crusader run in the top half of the second, the Yeomen added two more tallies to extend their lead to 4-1. Rookie David Fineman, who went 1-for-2 with two runs scored in game one, drove in senior Ian Dinsmore after he led off the inning with a double. Sophomore Lawrence Hamilton would later follow with a bases-loaded run-scoring single that hit off the Crusaders' pitcher for an infield hit.
 
A three-run fourth by Capital would tie the game at 4-4 and end the day for senior southpaw starter Zachary Steer as he departed after allowing six hits over 67 pitches of work. He walked one and struck out three in the no-decision. Classmate Jack Reiss would follow and did an outstanding job shutting down the Crusaders as he went 2.2 scoreless innings on the mound.
 
Oberlin would reclaim the lead in the home half of the inning as Thompson hit a slow dribbler in-between the mound and third base that allowed Fineman to race home. The Oberlin lead would increase out to 6-4 in the bottom of the seventh as Thompson belted his first-career home run over the wall in left field.
 
Unfortunately, the Yeomen advantage didn't last for long as in the top of the eighth, Capital's Ben Bethay would give the Crusaders their first lead of the day with a three-run bomb over the left field fence to make it 7-6 in their favor. Thankfully, the Yeomen had a rebuttal.
 
In the home half, Connor MacDowell worked a walk, bringing up senior tri-captain Brendan Mapes to the plate with just one out. Down in the count, 1-2, the Mount Vernon, Ohio, native ripped a ball over the left field wall to give Oberlin the 8-7 advantage with his 10^th-career round-tripper.
 
With the one-run lead in hand, Head Coach Adrian Abrahamowicz handed the ball to Ian Ashby in the ninth. Things got a little dicey as the first two Crusaders got aboard, but the rookie closer kept his cool and got out of it unharmed to earn his first collegiate save. The local Oberlin native induced a key double play where Jack Derwin stepped on the third base bag and threw across the diamond to retire Connor Richardson. He would then get Shayne Lyons to fly out to end the game.
 
Thompson highlighted game one as he accounted for four of the team's 12 hits in the contest and finished with three RBIs in his first collegiate game. 
 
Senior Stephen Kellner would pick up the team's first win of 2019 out of the bullpen. Capital's Nick Beck was credited with the loss. 
 
In the nightcap, the Yeomen had 10 hits and scored in five of the first six innings. Mapes led the way with three hits and three runs scored, while Thompson and McGowan each added a pair of hits.
 
The Yeomen posted single tallies in the first, third, and fourth innings. Hamilton got the scoring going with an RBI single back up the box in the first. In the third, it was Mapes' opposite-field single down the right field line that scored Ben Reed and in the fourth Ashby picked up his first-career RBI on a fielder's choice to stake the Yeomen to a 3-1 cushion.
 
The margin would only balloon from there as Thompson belted a two-run home run in the fifth before the Yeomen tacked on three more in the sixth, taking advantage of two Capital errors, a walk, and hit batter to make it 8-1.
 
After a scoreless seventh for both sides, it appeared the Yeomen were well on their way to a comfortable victory but the Crusaders had other ideas as they roughed up the Yeomen bullpen for six runs before an out was recorded to cut the deficit all the way down to one on a grand slam by Lyons.
 
Oberlin would turn to sophomore Nick Dawkins to stop the bleeding and the sophomore did just that as he entered with the tying run on first base. He would retire the next three Crusaders in order, striking out Konnor Black, getting a weak flyout of Cameron McCloud, and ending the threat by fanning Tyler Osbourne.
 
Dawkins picked up his first-career save as the game was called for darkness at the end of the inning. Dinsmore and David Gaetano also each worked a scoreless inning out of the Yeomen bullpen.
 
Oberlin returns to action on Friday with a single nine-inning game at Baldwin Wallace starting at 4 p.m.