Baseball
Loses to No. Three Wooster
by Colin Smith
The
numbers do not accurately reflect the performance of the Yeoman
baseball team in Tuesdays doubleheader against the College
of Wooster, the nations number three Division III baseball
team.
Woosters Fighting Scots defeated the Yeomen 8-1 and 5-0, but
the two games were closer than those scores would indicate. Six
of Woosters 13 runs in the two contests came in the sixth
and seventh innings, as the Yeomen remained within striking distance
until the very end of each game.
Wooster came into the series averaging a gaudy 11 runs per game
while posting a 2.93 ERA more than a run and a half better
than the next best team in the NCAC East but encountered
an Oberlin team that refused to just roll over and die.
We came out and played two very good baseball games versus
the number three team in the nation, Head Coach Eric Lahetta
said. If we play like that every day, we are going to be very
successful.
Despite the 8-1 score in the early game, Wooster only out-hit Oberlin
13-9, as the Yeomen kept pressure on the Scots for most of the game.
What hurt the Yeomen in the end was a failure to come through in
the clutch. Oberlin left eight men on base, six of them in scoring
position.
A couple of timely hits couldve made the difference,
first-year Steve Willever said of the games.
Sophomore
Troy DeWitt drove in the Yeomens lone run in the third inning
of the first game, singling home first-year Andrew Caprariello,
who had doubled.
DeWitt was a workhorse on the mound as well, pitching all seven
innings. He first got into trouble in the second, surrendering three
runs on four hits, but still had his team in the game in the fifth
with the score 4-1. Wooster plated a pair in both the sixth and
the seventh, though, to put the game on ice.
I dont think [Troy] necessarily had his best stuff,
Willever said.
With the loss, DeWitts record dropped to 2-3. Seven of the
eight runs he allowed were earned, raising his ERA to 4.62. He walked
only one, while striking out three. Through 37 innings so far this
season, DeWitt is averaging a strikeout an inning.
Junior Zach Pretzer, sophomore Ian Haynes, and Caprariello each
had two hits off of Woosters Matt Englander, against whom
batters had been hitting only .190.
It
gives us confidence to know we can play with them, Caprariello
said. We just need to take it to the next step.
The second game was even tighter than the first, thanks to the impressive
performance of first-year starting pitcher Ryan Drews. Drews gave
the Yeomen every chance to win the game, but for the second straight
start, he received no offensive support.
Drews got off to a rough start. After he gave up a leadoff single,
two Wooster stolen bases and two Oberlin errors one by Drews
turned into two runs in the first inning. But Drews settled
into a rhythm after that, allowing Wooster just one hit over the
next five innings while striking out three.
With
our pitching we matched up with them really well, Willever
said of Wooster.
It looked like the Yeomen might put together their own big inning
in the bottom of the first, as Pretzer and sophomore John Damron
opened the inning with back-to-back singles. But Caprariello struck
out and DeWitt grounded into a double-play to end the threat. Oberlins
third and final hit of the game didnt come until the last
inning.
Drews showed signs of tiring in the sixth as he went to 3-1 on the
three batters he faced, but came back to retire them on two strikeouts
and a groundout. The wear really showed in the seventh, though,
as Wooster solved him for three runs on four hits, hitting the ball
well off him for the first time in the game. The five run lead was
more than enough for Woosters John Werner, who had the Yeomens
number in pitching a complete game three-hitter.
That was probably the best pitcher weve faced so far,
Caprariello said of Werner.
Drews finished with a complete game loss to drop his record to 0-2,
but after controlling the potent Wooster offense in just his second
start of the season, Drews ERA is 2.82 and he is emerging
as one of the teams best pitchers.
Lahetta
gave Wooster, which is now 24-1 and has won at least 30 games each
of the last two years, a tip of the cap. With our young squad,
we should want to design our program like Woosters.
If
Tuesdays games against one of the top teams in the country
were any indication, Oberlin looks to be headed in the right direction.
Notes:
Oberlin lost Wednesdays game at Case Western 13-4, dropping
their record to 6-14 and extending their losing streak to seven,
their longest of the season
Pretzer stole a base in game one
against Wooster and now leads the NCAC with 17 steals
Oberlin
next plays this weekend in a three game series at Allegheny College.
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