Yeomen drop five straight games
By Laurie Stein
The Oberlin College baseball team suffered five straight home losses this
week, dropping their record to 8-17 (2-10 NCAC).
The Yeomen hosted league-leading Allegheny College in a four-game series last
Friday and Saturday. The Gators came away with a sweep, winning 20-8, 6-5, 7-1 and 9-1.
Baldwin-Wallace College visited on Tuesday, when a combination of the cold
weather and their pitching foiled Oberlin for a 10-0 shutout.
“Some games we really came out to play, other games there was kind of
a lull — we lacked a little intensity,” sophomore Ryan Squatrito said. “We were
definitely disappointed with getting shut out [by Baldwin-Wallace].”
Saturday provided an apt example of the Yeomen’s up-and-down play this
season. Offense ruled in the first game as Allegheny tallied 19 hits, including three home runs.
“They just hit the ball really well,” junior Barry Belville said.
Although they never seriously threatened, Oberlin’s bats were hot as well,
with junior Troy DeWitt hitting a grand slam in the bottom of the third and senior Zachary Pretzer
adding a two-run homer in the fifth inning.
In the second game, however, the team gave the Gators all they could handle.
Though Oberlin led 2-0 after two innings, Allegheny clawed back to take a 6-2 advantage in the
seventh.
The Yeomen waited until the last possible moment to mount their comeback. With
two outs in the bottom of the seventh, Pretzer and DeWitt both came up with singles.
The hits, combined with an Allegheny error, yielded three Oberlin runs and
closed the gap to 6-5, unfortunately not enough for the win.
“In the second game against Allegheny we had really good pitching from
[junior] Pete [Wyatt],” Belville said. “He kept us in the game. We had a chance to win
in the bottom of the seventh but couldn’t come up with two more runs.”
“That was probably the best game I’ve pitched so far,” Wyatt
said. “We played really good defense, too. It was a nail-biter.”
Allegheny outlasted the Yeomen on Sunday for the similar 7-1 and 9-1 victories
to boost their record to 19-9-1 (9-1 NCAC) and tie the College of Wooster at the top of the NCAC
East division standings.
Highlights for the Yeomen included first-year Landon Lerner’s third-inning
homer, his second of the year, in the first loss.
Oberlin couldn’t get their bats going against Baldwin-Wallace on Tuesday,
hitting only four times off Yellow Jackets pitcher Ryan Petroskey.
“Their pitcher didn’t look to be that overpowering,” Wyatt,
who was in the bullpen during the game, said. “But it was really cold that day.”
“We just didn’t hit the ball,” Belville added. “They definitely
weren’t 10 runs better than us.”
Squatrito took the mound against Baldwin-Wallace, allowing eight hits and three
earned runs in four and two-thirds innings, and striking out five.
“We just need to get our heads on straight,” he said. “We need
to know that other teams are going to come out to play.”
Despite their current status at last place in the NCAC East, the Yeomen still
have high hopes for the season, setting their sights on the school record of 15 wins —at least.
“We want to finish somewhere around .500,” Squatrito said. “Twenty
wins is still our goal — but it’ll be tough.”
Oberlin has eight regular season games remaining, in addition to the conference
tournament. A four-game series versus Hiram College this weekend will be key in the team’s
quest.
To reach their goals, both Squatrito and Wyatt acknowledge that the team will
have to play less erratically.
“Some games we’ll have our hitting and not our defense; other games
we’ll have our defense and not our hitting,” Squatrito said. “We have to put a good
game together.”
“Here and there we’ve played well,” Wyatt added. “We need
to play consistent defense, and our pitching has been a little spotty. I think our hitting has
been good enough to carry us through — we’re definitely hitting much better than last
year.”
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