Oberlin, Ohio – Behind a complete-game masterpiece from
Vince Dolcemaschio, the Oberlin College baseball team defeated the visiting Wabash College Little Giants 3-2 in game one and would then rally for seven runs in the bottom of the ninth in game two only to fall 15-12 in 10 innings.
Dolcemaschio finished off the first complete-game victory of his career, throwing 71 strikes on 108 pitches. The sophomore from Los Angeles, California, carried a shutout into the ninth until Liam Patton poked a two-out two-run home run over the wall in right field.
Dolcemaschio (3-4) allowed just five hits and two walks while striking out six. He induced 13 groundball outs and had six though the air. His defense backed up his effort with a pair of double plays while going error-free.
Dylan Scheid (3-4) was also impressive for the Little Giants, tossing 7.2 innings in the tough-luck loss that saw him surrender just five hits and three runs (two earned) to go along with three walks and five strikeouts.
Oberlin posted the game's first run in the home half of the fifth as
Max Cairo continued to deliver in the clutch with a two-out RBI single to score
Harry Kaplan.
A Wabash error in the sixth made it 2-0 Yeomen and Oberlin would add on an all-important insurance tally in the eighth when
Max Anastasio belted a line-drive home run over the wall in left for his sixth round-tripper of the season.
Both teams finished with just five hits as Anastasio led the Yeomen with two.
While the Yeomen and Little Giants raced through the lid-lifter in 1:53, it was a much different story in the nightcap as the outcome wasn't decided until 10 innings were completed and 3:40 were milked off the clock. The two foes combined for 29 hits, 27 runs, and used 12 pitchers.
Oberlin appeared left for dead, entering the ninth inning down 12-5 but a ferocious rally tied the game to force extra innings. The Yeomen sent 12 men to the plate in the inning, producing seven hits to go along with a walk and hit batter. The rally started with four straight singles off the bats of
Jake Blozy, Cairo, Anastasio, and
Jake Freed to make it 12-6. After back-to-back outs,
Jacob Thompson drew a bases-loaded walk for his 50
th-career RBI and Yanni Gardner drove in his fifth run of the game with a single to center. The train continued to move when
Kyle Grassl got beaned with a pitch to make it a 12-9 game.
Blozy followed with his second single of the inning to score Freed before Cairo welcomed Wabash reliever Tavic Simmons into the game by ripping a game-tying two-run single down the right field line on Simmons very first offering. Anatasio would then step up to the plate with Blozy just 90 feet away as the potential-game winning run but he would pop up to second to end the inning.
Unfortunately, things would unravel in the 10
th for the Yeomen and pitcher
Jay Aghanya as he set the table for the three-run inning by the Little Giants, walking the first two hitters he faced and three of the first four with his only out coming on a sac bunt. Wabash would take the lead on a passed ball, but it was ultimately AJ Reid who came through with the big blow, roping a two-run double that short-hopped the wall in right.
Oberlin led 3-0 in the early going as Thompson poked a backside run-scoring single through the infield before Gardner scorched a two-run double down the left line in the second inning.
However, the Little Giants would take control of the game with three runs in each of the third and fourth innings before adding on a pair in the fifth.
Gardner would come through with another two-RBI double in the sixth to make it just an 8-5 Wabash lead, but the Little Giants erupted for four in the top part of the seventh and certainly looked like it would be all she wrote for Oberlin until the ninth.
William Kennedy got the start on the bump for Oberlin but lasted just 3.2 innings as he fought through command problems, issuing five walks and seven hits to accompany three strikeouts. He was ultimately tagged for six runs in the no-decision.
Gardner finished 3-for-3 with two doubles, two walks, and five RBIs. Freed went 3-for-5, while Blozy and Cairo each added a pair of hits.
The Yeomen are back in action tomorrow as they take on No. 13 Baldwin Wallace in Berea, Ohio. First pitch of the single 9-inning affair is set for 2 p.m.
