Springfield, Ohio – Third-year first baseman
Kyle Baxt rewrote the Oberlin College baseball team's history books in game one of the Yeomen's doubleheader against the Wittenberg Tigers. With the bases loaded in the third inning, Baxt ripped his first-career grand slam over the left field wall to give the Yeomen a 4-1 lead. It was the seventeenth home run of Baxt's career, tying Chris Donaldson '90 for the all-time program lead.
"I'm very glad that my hard work is being rewarded," Baxt said. "[This was] my only offer to play college baseball. It means a lot to prove all those schools that passed on me wrong."
Oberlin baseball has been around since the 1880s, meaning this home run record resembles more than 140 years of Yeomen ball players.
"It means a lot to be able to put my name in the record books in this old, historic program that's been around for hundreds of years," Baxt remarked of his achievement.
In the top of the fifth, Baxt added onto his career day with an RBI single to left-center, scoring second-year infielder Ryan Robinson from second to give the Yeomen a 5-1 lead.
Second-year right-hander Matthew Ruttkay was stellar in his ninth start of the season. Against the high-powered Tigers offense – Wittenberg leads Division III with a .388 team batting average – the Northbrook, Illinois native spun five innings, allowed three runs while racking up four punchouts.
Unfortunately for the Yeomen, the bullpen was unable to hold the lead. The Tigers scored 12 runs combined from the sixth through the eighth en route to a 15–5 win in eight innings.
In game two, Wittenberg jumped out to an early lead. The Tigers took a 7–0 lead after the first inning and held a 20–1 lead after three innings. After compiling 20 hits and six home runs in game one, the Tigers put up an identical 20 hits in game two with one home run.
In the top of the seventh, second-year outfielder Daniel Devapalan crushed his third home run of the season over the left field wall to finalize the score, 22–4.
Fourth-year outfielder Nik Mezzanotte led the charge offensively for the Yeomen in game two. The lefty knocked two singles and walked twice as he was on base for all four plate appearances.
The two losses drop Oberlin's record to 16–19–1, 4–9–1 in NCAC play. The Yeomen are back in action Saturday when they take on Kenyon College in an NCAC doubleheader. First pitch is scheduled for noon.
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