Oberlin, Ohio - On Saturday afternoon at Dill Field, the Oberlin College baseball team finished on the wrong side of a pair of one-run decisions, falling 2-1 and 8-7 to the visiting DePauw University Tigers.
Oberlin senior starter
Jay Aghanya and Depuw southpaw ace Michael Vallone turned in an epic pitcher's duel game one, combining for 24 strikeouts and eight hits allowed.
Aghanya (1-2) was the tough-luck loser after fanning a career-high 13, to go along with four walks and three hits allowed over the complete-game gem.
Vallone (4-0) gave up just five hits while racking up 11 punchouts and just one walk over nine innings.
A throwing error in the first inning resulted in the Tigers pushing across an unearned run in the top part of the first inning on a Danny Glimco groundout. A two-out RBI double by Aidan Howard in the fifth made it a 2-0 advantage.
Anton Shelton, who had two of Oberlin's five hits, led off the seventh inning with a double to left field and would come in to score on
Grayson Black's backside RBI single to cut the lead in half. Unfortunately, the Yeomen would go down in order in the eighth and ninth innings as the Tigers held on for the win.
Kyle Baxt matched Shelton with two hits, marking his 12th multi-hit game of the season while running his conference-leading hit total to 44.
Oberlin trailed 3-0 after the first two innings of game two, but senior starter
Andrew Shen would settle in, getting through five innings with just four runs allowed and only two earned to accompany his five strikeouts and two walks.
The Yeomen would scratch out a run in the third inning and would then go out in front with a four-run fifth inning. A two-run single from
Zach Masnikoff tied the game at 3-3.
Ethan Hurwitz later followed with a run-scoring infield single before
Brady Groves came in to score on a sac fly by Baxt after he doubled earlier in the frame.
Unfortunately, the lead was short-lived as the Tigers took advantage of two hit batters, a walk, and a sac fly - scoring three runs in the top of the sixth on just one hit to reclaim a 6-5 lead.
Freshman reliever
Davis Hayes struck out the side in the seventh, but Hunter Hrbek also poked a solo shot over the wall in left to extend the lead out to two. The Tigers would then get an all-important insurance run in the ninth on a wild pitch, which ultimately proved to be the difference in the outcome.
The Yeomen went into the ninth trailing by three but fought to the bitter end.
Joe Strabley got the threat going with a one-out single and would come in to score on a Tigers' error. Groves followed with an RBI groundout on a ball deep in the hole that shortstop Max Bond backhanded and threw a seed to first to get Groves by half a step at first base. The game would ultimately end on another web gem by the Tigers as Danny Glimco laid out in the right-center gap to rob Hutwitz of extra bases while saving the game for the Tigers.
The Tigers moved to 11-8 and 2-0 in the NCAC, while the Yeomen fell back to 11-13 and 1-5 in league play.
Oberlin is back in action on Tuesday afternoon at John Carroll University. First pitch is set for 4 p.m.
