Tucson, Arizona – The Oberlin College baseball team opened their spring break trip by outlasting the Caltech Beavers 15-14 on Sunday afternoon at the Kino Sports Complex in Tucson, Arizona.
Oberlin led 12-2 after five innings only to see the lead evaporate over the next two innings as Caltech scored six in the sixth inning and six more in the seventh to grab a 14-13 lead. However, all is well that ends well for the Yeomen as
Max Cairo continued to be clutch in key moments as he belted a two-run home run over the wall in deep in centerfield to put Oberlin back out in front in the home half of the eighth for his first-career round-tripper.
Senior
Alexander Norris would then finish off the job in the top of the ninth, working around a one-out single to earn his first win of the year.
Eight of the Yeomen's 12 hits in the game went for extra bases, headlined by sophomore
Ethan Hurwitz who went 4-for-5 with a double, home run, four runs scored, and three RBIs.
After the Beavers pushed across a run in the second, the Yeomen responded with a four-spot in the bottom of the frame with a pair of two-out two-run doubles. Senior
John Schooner belted a 1-2 pitch to the gap in right center that scored Cairo and Hurwitz and Blozy would later follow with a bloop double to center to plate
Harry Kaplan and Schooner.
In the third inning, Hurwitz increased the Oberlin cushion out to five on one swing of the bat as he lifted a towering three-run home run down the right field line to make it 7-2.
Oberlin appeared to be well on its way to an easy win after tacking on five more runs in the fifth on three hits and error, but the game would take a drastic turn in the sixth.
Yeomen starter
Justin Fuls was in control through the front five innings before running into trouble as five of the first six batters he faced in the inning reached base before he was lifted for
Travis Cann. When the inning mercifully came to an end it wasn't before the Beavers scored six.
Fuls departed giving up seven hits and seven runs (six earned) to go along with six punchouts and two walks over 5.1 innings.
Oberlin would get a single tally back in the sixth on a two-out RBI triple by
Jake Freed, but the Yeomen bullpen got roughed up for six more runs in the seventh before Norris was able to settle in down the stretch to keep the Yeomen in it.
The win ran the Yeomen's record to 2-3 on the year while Caltech fell back to 4-10.
Oberlin will go right back to work tomorrow morning with a doubleheader against St. John's (Minn.). First pitch is set for 10 AM MST / 1:00 PM EDT.
