On the weekend of March 2-3, the Oberlin baseball team continued their impressive start to their season as they completed a series sweep against Berea College. The games show an impressive start to the season as they were able to bounce back from two losses. On Saturday, March 2, the Yeomen won two games 6–5 and 16–7, respectively.
“It feels great to see this year’s team be able to finish a weekend with a sweep,” Head Baseball Coach Johnathan Ray wrote in an email to the Review. “But the biggest thing I am excited about is how the team responded when we faced adversity.”
The first game on Saturday saw the Yeomen go down 3–0 early in the first inning. However, the Yeomen came back alive in the sixth inning, making four runs with no response from Berea. Despite a last-minute push by Berea, who scored two runs, the Yeomen took the win 6–5. There were multiple impressive performances. Fourth-year Luigi Smarro tossed 6.2 innings of ball, and then only allowed two hits and one walk. The first score of the day came from third-year Ethan Hurwitz, who managed to get a home run in the fourth inning before the Yeomen got four runs in the sixth inning. First-year Kyle Baxt managed to get a single run batted in that would tie up the game. Another great performance came from fourth-year Sean Livingstone, who got a two-out and two-run double to put the Yeomen up.
The second game Saturday was complete domination by Oberlin, winning the game 16–7. They went up early in the first couple of innings, but Berea made a steady comeback until Oberlin scored six runs in each of the eighth and ninth innings. The six-run inning was made possible by fourth-year Jay Aghanya, who hit the ball into right field with third-year Zack Masnikoff on base, who converted into a run tying the game 5–5. Then second-year Anton Shelton put the team ahead with an RBI fielder’s choice. Following the RBI by Shelton, Aghanya scored on a wild pitch which was followed by a single RBI to left field by fellow fourth-year Joe Strabley. Finally, first-year Brady Groves managed to hit an RBI Triple and pushed the team into a five-run lead to then win the game.
“Learning how to win in different ways is how good teams turn into great teams,” Ray wrote. “Baseball is a sport of failure and the ability to be consistent is sometimes your best weapon for success. We hope to carry this momentum into future games this spring. Giving our team the confidence to battle against adversity and find ways to win together.”
The third and final game finished 9–7. The game saw the Yeomen go up after the first three innings but then go down in the fifth inning when Berea managed to get five runs. However, in the last three innings, Oberlin managed to get six runs to make the game 9–7 and complete the sweep. The game earned 13 hits, a season high. Groves had an impressive performance, continuing an auspicious start to his career. In this game, Groves had three hits, one of them part of the team’s four doubles. Groves has managed to get a season total of 12 hits in his first six games. Another good rookie performance came from Baxt, who managed to get two hits.
“Our team is always pumped to play at home,” Ray wrote. “We are very fortunate to have amazing facilities, and our team loves playing at Dill Field.”
Baseball continued its season with its home opener win against Grove City College Wednesday at Dill Field.
