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.”