Doubleheader Stats (PDF)

Delaware, Ohio – The Oberlin College baseball team earned its sixth consecutive doubleheader split at Ohio Wesleyan University on Tuesday, winning game one 9-6 before dropping game two 8-7 in gut-wrenching fashion.
 
The Yeomen pounded out hits 20 hits on the day, led by Brendan Mapes' 5-for-9 showing that included two doubles, two RBIs, and three runs scored. Nick Nelson, Parker Goldstein, Jack Marsjanik and Lawrence Hamilton each had three hits over the two games.
 
Oberlin scored four runs over the first three innings of game one to grab the early control. A two-out two-run single by Goldstein put the Yeomen ahead in the first. In the second it was freshman Ian Ashby who belted his first-career home run and in the third Goldstein would deliver again with a two-out run-scoring double.
 
Oberlin rookie Jacob Thompson posted zeros on the board through the first three innings but the Bishops would get to him in the fourth and ultimately chase him from the game but not before they erupted with six runs in the inning – four of which came off two-run home runs by C.J. Colson and Mitchell Johnson.
 
However, the Yeomen would respond with four runs in the top of the fifth to reclaim the lead. Hamilton provide the big blow with a towering three-run home run for his first-career long ball and Marsjanik would later follow with an RBI single back up the box to make it an 8-6 Yeomen advantage.
 
The Oberlin bullpen would protect the lead from there as they allowed just two hits from the fifth inning on. Senior Musa Matiwane got the final out of the fourth and worked a clean fifth to get the win before David Gaetano and Jack Reiss tagged-team a scoreless sixth. Senior Noah Gear would take care of the final three innings, sitting down all nine batters he faced, while racking up five punchouts along the way. It was his first save of the season and fourth of his career.
 
Oberlin would get an added insurance run in the eighth as Ashby would tack on his second round-tripper of the game with a bomb over the wall in left field.
 
It was a seesaw battle throughout the nightcap and those who followed the game could have easily expected it to come down to the final out as it did.
 
Oberlin scored one run in the top of the ninth to tie the game at 7-7 after allowing the Bishops to take a 7-6 lead with two runs in the eighth. Oberlin evened the count on a groundout by Goldstein.
 
In the bottom of the ninth, the Yeomen had recorded two outs but a runner on third still remained. Oberlin would intentionally load the bases to set up a force at any base, but after being the stopper in game one, Gear could not do the same in game two as he hit Luigi Russo in the back to bring in the game-winning run.
 
Like in game one, the Yeomen got off to a fast start as they posted three runs in the top of first on a sac fly by Goldstein that was coupled with an OWU error, and a run-scoring single by Marsjanik.
 
After three innings of play, the game was tied at 3-3 but Oberlin would go back out in front by a pair in the fourth on a first-and-third steal play and an RBI single by Mapes.
 
The Bishops would later even the count again at 5-5 before Mapes rapped a two-out run-producing single to the gap in left center.
 
The one-run cushion for the Yeomen would not hold though as OWU was able to post a pair in the eighth before walking-off in the ninth.
 
Ashby was the tough-luck loser after he worked 2.1 innings in relief, allowing three runs on three hits and three walks to go along with a pair of strikeouts. Senior southpaw starter Zachary Steer lasted just 4.1 innings as he departed after getting touched up for eight hits and five runs (three earned).
 
Oberlin will be back in action at home on Saturday with another key NCAC set against Wittenberg. First pitch of game one is set for 12 p.m.