<< Front page Sports April 23, 2004

Baseball struggles and drops to ninth in the NCAC

Hanging in there: The Yeomen lost five games last week to drop a 10-17 record on the season.
 

Senior pitcher Troy DeWitt notched his first win of the 2004 season Wednesday, dominating the Lords of Kenyon for a complete game shutout. DeWitt was dominant, allowing only two hits throughout seven innings in a 6-0 victory.

DeWitt’s outing helped Oberlin split a rain-drenched doubleheader with Kenyon, improving their record to 10-17 on the season.

In the second game in the afternoon, junior hurler Ryan Drews was also able to go the distance to pitch a complete game for the Yeomen, but took the 6-5 loss despite his solid performance.

“We started off playing pretty well, but had a couple of tough weeks coming back from Florida,” senior B.J. Belville said.

Wednesday marked another first for Oberlin baseball this season, as they were able to pick up their first NCAC win of 2004. The team now stands at 1-9 in conference play.

Including the Kenyon match, the Yeomen tallied a 3-6 week that began on Thursday with a doubleheader against the two-time defending ECAC Southern Region champion Lions of Penn St.-Behrend.

Just like at Kenyon, Oberlin split a doubleheader against Penn St.-Behrend at Dill Field. Drews was credited with the win in relief for the first game when Oberlin was able to bring the winning run across in the bottom of the seventh and final inning to secure the 2-1 victory.

First-year third baseman Jesse Cullen-Dupont scored the winning run on a throwing error by the Lions’ shortstop after reaching base on a one-out single.

First-year starter Jeremy Rich was in control despite getting the no-decision, allowing only one run on five hits with one strikeout over five innings.

“We’re back on the right track with our wins against Case, Behrend and our split with Kenyon,” Belville said.

In the first game, sophomore Ray DeVaul gave Oberlin hitters all they could handle, striking out five over seven innings in the Yeomen’s 9-2 loss. Junior Kyle Neumeier and sophomore Landon Lerner each drove in a run for Oberlin.

The next day, head coach Eric Lahetta took his squad to Robertson Field in Meadville, Pa. for four games in two days against the Allegheny College Gators. Oberlin dropped both doubleheaders, 17-3 and 10-0 the first day and 3-1 and 10-0 the second day.

The Yeomen were quick to forget about the weekend’s losses, avenging their defeats from last week with a 6-3 nine inning victory against Case Western Reserve University.

Sophomore Nick Broughton and Belville homered and Rich turned in another fine performance to pick up his second win, allowing five hits over six innings while fanning two batters.

Junior Ryan Squatrito pitched the final inning to record his first save of the season.

Oberlin travels to Hiram College this weekend for a pair of NCAC doubleheaders.


 
 
   

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