Berea, KY - The Oberlin College baseball team won both ends of a doubleheader on Saturday night at Berea College, taking game one 6-5 before coming alive late in the nightcap to earn a commanding 16-7 victory.
While the end result couldn't have been better for the Yeomen, it certainly started rather roughly as Berea took advantage of command issues from
Justin Fuls to score three runs in the first inning of game one. Thankfully, fellow senior
Luigi Smarro came in with one out in the first and steadied the ship, tossing 6.2 innings of scoreless ball, allowing just two hits and one walk while fanning seven.
The Yeomen would get on the board in the fourth courtesy of
Ethan Hurwitz's home run and then go out in front with a four-run sixth inning. The first three Yeomen hitters would all reach base to set the table for the big inning. Freshman
Kyle Baxt's RBI single would tie it 3-3 and senior catcher
Sean Livingstone would later come through with a clutch two-out two-run double to put Oberlin up by a pair.
Oberlin would get an all-important insurance run in the seventh as
Brady Groves led off the inning with a triple and would come in to score on a wild pitch.
After shutting down the Pioneers in order in the eighth, rookie reliever
Calvin Burkholder ran into some trouble in the ninth but was able to hang on to secure his first-career save. With runners on the corners and one out, Oberlin was unable to turn a double play which allowed one run to come across and the game to continue. Junior Jayden Junta would keep the faith alive for the home side with a two-out run-scoring single, but Burkholder was able to finish off the victory by inducing a groundout of Christian Ortiz to end the game.
It was a six-run eighth inning that powered Oberlin to victory in the nightcap as the Yeomen sent 10 men to the plate in the barrage.
Jay Aghanya lifted a ball into right field that scored
Zach Masnikoff to tie the game at 5-5. Moments later, sophomore
Anton Shelton put the Yeomen out in front for good on an RBI fielder's choice. After Aghanya scored on a wild pitch, senior
Joe Strabley poked an RBI single into left field to make it a 9-5 Oberlin advantage. The rally would roll on with Groves roping an RBI triple that plated Kaplan and staked the Yeomen to a five-run lead.
Oberlin scratched out a run in the top of the first inning on a groundout by Hurwitz, but the Mountaineers would take advantage of an Oberlin error to level the count at 1-1 in the third. However, the visitors would retake the lead with a three-run fourth inning. Masnikoff got it going with a double into right field and would come in to score Aghanya's two-base hit to center.
David Curtin followed with a sac fly before Aghanya scored on Shelton's single down the third baseline.
The Pioneers would score four runs over innings five through seven to reclaim a 5-4 advantage but the eighth inning assault by the Yeomen erased that rather quickly. After Berea responded with a pair in the home half of the eighth, Oberlin went right back to work at the plate by tacking on six more runs in the ninth.
Kyle Baxt, Aghanya, Strabley, and Hurwitz (2), each had RBIs in the inning.
Andrew Shen picked up his first win of the season and second of his career after tossing 5.2 innings and striking out a career-high eight.
Micah Rodriguez (2) and
Zachary Ritts (3) also added five punchouts out of the Yeomen bullpen.
Oberlin will look for the series sweep against the Pioneers tomorrow afternoon at 1 p.m.
