Oberlin, Ohio - The Oberlin College Yeomen opened NCAC play today by dropping a doubleheader against The College of Wooster Fighting Scots. The Yeomen fell 8-3 in the opener before losing 4-1 in the nightcap.
 
Sophomore Calvin Burkholder got the starting nod in game one. The Aurora, CO native pitched well through six innings but was bothered by a second inning that saw the Scots send nine batters to the plate, scoring five runs to make it a 5-0 nothing game. Outside of that, the right-hander was dealing; with the only other blemish being an RBI single in the third to push the lead to five. Burkholder finished the day allowing seven runs (four earned), and 11 hits while adding five strikeouts, pushing his total to 28 on the season. His 28 strikeouts are good enough for the tenth most in the NCAC.
 
The Oberlin bats could not to put anything together until the bottom of the fifth. Freshman outfielder Daniel Devapalan led off the inning with a double off the base of the wall in left-center. Fellow freshman outfielder Jack Braddell followed with a double down the left field line to score Devapalan and get the Yeomen on the board, making it a 5-1 game. 
 
Still in the bottom of the fifth, with one out, freshman infielder Jeffery Chen smoked a line drive single just past the reach of the diving second baseman to score Braddell and shrink Wooster's lead to three.
 
After Wooster tacked on a run in the top of the sixth thanks to some poor Yeomen defense, sophomore first baseman Kyle Baxt responded right back. The Wellington, FL native crushed his fourth home run of the season well over the hedges in left behind Dill Field to make it a three-run game again. 
 
Unfortunately, that was as close as the Yeomen would get. Freshman Samuel Labrecque was rock solid in relief of Burkholder. The righty threw three strong innings, only surrendering one run and striking out four. 
 
In game two, sophomore Grayson Black and Woosters' Jack Spring, delivered a classic pitchers duel that every old school fan loves.
 
Wooster got on the board early in the bottom of the first to take a 1-0 lead, but the Yeomen responded in the bottom of the third to tie the game at one as they headed into the middle innings. 
 
With two outs in the bottom of the third, senior infielder Zachary Ritts ripped a triple off the wall in left to put himself in scoring position. The next batter, Baxt, delivered an RBI single up the middle as he continued his hot day at the dish. Baxt finished the day going 5-8 with 2 RBIs. 
 
Wooster reclaimed the lead in the bottom of the sixth with a solo blast to left and the Yeomen were unable to muster up anything offensively for the rest of the day. 
 
In the top of the eight, Wooster tacked on two more runs to push their lead to three.
 
Black was phenomenal on the day. The Palm Harbor, FL native went 7.1 strong, only giving up six hits and two runs while striking out six to push his total on the season to 34, the second-best mark in the NCAC. 
 
In relief of Black, sophomore Micah Rodriguez came on and allowed one hit in his 1.2 innings of work while striking out two. 
 
The losses moved the Yeomen to 7-13, 0-2 in NCAC play while the sweep pushed Wooster's win streak to nine as they are now 13-10, 4-0 in NCAC play.
 
The Yeomen will travel to Indiana this weekend, as they take on the Wabash Little Giants in another conference doubleheader. First pitch of game one is scheduled for 12 p.m.

Fans can keep up with their favorite teams on Instagram, Facebook, X, or TikTok, and watch all the home matches live online. The Crimson and Gold's home broadcasts can be accessed on TV through the official Oberlin College Sports Network app on Roku, Apple TV, and Amazon Fire TV.