Yeomen lose four more

Yeomen weather storm to endure avalanche of runs by Kenyon

By Saturday, Mother Nature had pretty much exhausted her repertoire. She'd dealt up a tornado, winds, rain and snow to keep the Oberlin baseball team from playing.

Although the weather wasn't able to stop the Yeomen from taking the field against Kenyon College, the opening pitch was postponed by rain for 24 hours. Oberlin traveled to Kenyon on Sunday minus their starting catcher and top relief pitcher. Senior Oren Gradus and first-year Carson Keeble had both scheduled important events on Sunday, not anticipating the horrible weather that has been hitting Oberlin this spring.

The absence of Gradus and Keeble proved to be significant as Oberlin went on to lose the first game 22-6. In the first three innings, Kenyon pounced on the Yeomen as they took a 14-0 lead. Starting pitcher sophomore Rafael Haciski lasted less than two innings as Kenyon managed a total of 12 runs off him, with nine earned.

"It was a disaster," said junior outfielder Kwang Kim. "No one had their hitting shoes on and defensively, we just weren't there. Raf was having a tough time throwing strikes."

In the second game of the double-header the Yeomen showed improvement as they held a 6-5 lead going into the sixth inning. Co-captain senior Noah Pressler led the team going two for three with five RBIs. Things were going relatively well for the Yeomen. And then something happened that no one can really explain. Kenyon knocked in 12 runs in the bottom of the inning to take a 17-6 lead, which is how the game ended.

Assistant coach Eric Lahetta explained, "A couple of mistakes just tend to avalanche. Big innings occur when that happens."

"I was thinking, `Wow, I've been on this field for a long time,'" said Kim. "We're talking about a team that's won something like 99 games in the past three seasons," said Lahetta.

Once again the Yeomen attempted to seek revenge the second time around. Starting pitcher sophomore Alex Johnston was dominating as he allowed only five hits and three earned runs in four and one third innings. Yet the Yeomen only produced two runs for the entire game, with sophomore Brendan Cody hitting 1 for 3 with an RBI.

Still, Lahetta noted some positives during the second game, "We definitely improved our fielding and put the ball in play during the second game." Although they put the ball in play and made contact more often, the Yeomen ended the game with only four hits.

The team has been taking more batting practice than usual in recent practices, hoping to increase success at the plate in the remaining seven games of the season. Their next game comes when they host Denison for a double-header Saturday afternoon.

Kim is so confident that he is "guaranteeing victory on Saturday."

Lahetta has the same attitude. "Denison is a team we can compete with. If we do the little things like fielding the ball and making contact at the plate we should be successful."