Oberlin, Ohio - On a cold and windy day at the Dill, Oberlin baseball honored their five seniors with a senior day sweep against the Kenyon College Owls. The Yeomen prevailed 8-3 in game one before falling 4-2 in game two.
 
Sophomore Calvin Burkholder continued his exquisite run in conference play. The right-hander threw eight excellent innings in game one, only allowing two runs (one earned) while striking out six. The Aurora, CO native currently leads the NCAC in innings pitched at 53 while donning a 1.8 ERA in conference play over 30 innings.
 
Burkholder kept the Owls at bay until the top of the fourth when Kenyon scratched a run across on a two-out RBI single just past the reach of sophomore first baseman Kyle Baxt to take a 1-0 lead.
 
The score would hold until the bottom of the sixth. With two outs, Baxt walked, freshman first baseman Samuel Labrecque singled through the left side, and sophomore outfielder Brady Groves singled through the 5-6 hole to load the bases for freshman outfielder Daniel Devapalan. The Brampton, Ontario native delivered a rocketed bases-clearing single to center field to put the Yeomen ahead 3-1. 
 
"I went into the at bat looking for a fastball," Devapalan said postgame about his game-changing swing. "After I fouled off the first pitch I felt really confident and knew I was seeing him really well. He threw me another fastball and I was able to put a good swing on it and hit it up the middle."
 
The next batter, sophomore catcher Anton Shelton, roped a line drive down the left field line to score Devapalan and make it a 4-1 game. 
 
The offensive outburst did not stop there. Freshman infielder Ryan Robinson followed with a walk and freshman infielder Jeffery Chen smoked an RBI single to right-center to make it a 5-1 game heading into the top of the seventh.
 
Burkholder worked a clean seventh and the Oberlin bats added on again in the bottom half of the frame.
 
Senior Zach Masnikoff led off the inning with an infield single and advanced to second when senior infielder Zachary Ritts walked. The following batter, Baxt, ripped a ball over the right fielder's head for a bases-clearing double to make it a 7-1 game. A few batters later, Groves hammered a ball into the right-center gap scoring Baxt to put the Yeomen up by seven. 
 
Burkholder put an exclamation mark on his outing in the top half of the eighth. After the Owls had already gotten a run on the board, Burkholder blew three straight fastballs by the Owls to get out of a bases-loaded jam.
 
In the top half of the ninth, the Yeomen turned to senior Owen Potter to protect a six-run lead. In his second appearance of the year, the crafty lefty dealt with some traffic on the bases, yet got out of it courtesy of a perfectly executed 3-2 fastball down and away to get the strikeout and secure an 8-3 Yeomen victory.
 
"It felt great to go do my thing on senior day and help the team out," Potter said after locking up a game one win. "The best part of it all was hearing my teammates cheering me on while I was out there."
 
In game two, the Yeomen turned to sophomore Grayson Black. The Palm Harbor, FL native had a strong outing, going six innings, surrendering four runs while striking out seven. His 51 strikeouts on the season are third-most in the NCAC.
 
The Owls took a 3-0 lead heading into the bottom half of the fourth. With two outs, Devapalan cracked a ball to the wall in left-center, scoring Labrecque from first to make it a 3-1 game.
 
In the top of the seventh, after Kenyon had taken a 4-1 lead, sophomore Micah Rodriguez came on in relief of Black. 
 
The Simi Valley, CA native was sharp in his three innings of work, allowing no hits and no walks while striking out five. 
 
In the bottom of the ninth, Groves laced his first home run of the season into the left field hedges, but the comeback attempt would end there. Kenyon recorded the next two outs to put a stamp on their 4-2 victory.
 
The split moves the Yeomen to 12-22, 3-9 in NCAC play while the Owls are now 14-15, 7-7 in NCAC play.
 
Oberlin is back on the diamond this Tuesday for a conference doubleheader against the Wittenberg Tigers. First pitch is scheduled for noon.
 
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.