Oberlin baseball has been unable to maintain any momentum since beating Lake Erie College 9-3 last week. Since that game the Yeomen have gone 1-4 and have continued to give up too many runs. If the Yeomen want to make a statement towards the end of the season their pitching will have to pull together.

On Wednesday Oberlin traveled to Notre Dame College, losing the non-conference game 6-2. Senior first baseman Kyle Neumeier and first-year left fielder Brad Greenberg drove in the only two runs for the Yeomen. Sophomore Jaremy Rich was saddled with the loss, pitching five and one-third innings, surrendering six runs, five earned, on nine hits. The bullpen did a good job providing two and two-thirds innings of scoreless relief.

After their loss to Notre Dame College, Oberlin collected their only win of the week when it hosted Hiram. This game was indeed very promising, as the Yeomen won convincingly, 5-1. The offensive star of the game was sophomore designated hitter Rick Betzel, who went two for three, with three RBIs and one run scored. Two of the three RBIs came on a second inning triple that drove in two for the Yeomen.

Senior pitcher Ryan Drews put on a show for the Yeomen on the mound, pitching seven innings of one-run ball and surrendering only seven hits while striking out six. Although the Yeomen were out-hit seven to five, Drews managed to scatter Hiram’s hits, allowing them only to accumulate one run.

The success the Yeomen had in their first meeting with Hiram quickly faded as they were routed in the next game 17-4. Senior starting pitcher Ryan Squatrito pitched only 1.1 innings and gave up six runs, all earned, on four hits. First-year Alex Sugiura came on in relief, but fared little better, pitching only 1.2 and giving up 5 earned runs on three hits.

Just when it seemed things had nowhere to go but up after the 17-4 loss, the Yeomen lost their next game in yet another blowout, this time 15-1. Rich started the game for the Yeomen and was handled by the Hiram offense, surrendering 13 hits and 11 earned runs in three innings of work.

Sophomore Jonah Teitelbaum came on in relief, but also was hit hard, giving up four runs in his three innings of work. Junior first baseman Joe Sheehan provided the only RBI for the Yeomen.

Oberlin lost the last game of the set to Hiram in another slaughter, a 13-4 Hiram victory. Once again starting pitching was Oberlin’s Achilles heel as junior Steve Solomon pitched three innings, giving up 12 hits and 12 runs, 11 earned. This was more than enough to put Hiram in the driver’s seat. Neumeier and Betzel provided the offense for the Yeomen with two RBIs a piece.

When asked about Oberlin’s performance in the four game series, Betzel explained, “The pitchers worked just as hard as everyone else, and Ryan Drews is obviously our ace, but just because he wins does not mean it will carry over for the rest of the team.”

As for his views of the rest of the year, he said, “This year is not too different from last year, other than last year we started with a bunch of non-conference wins, this year we have just as many conference wins as last year [one]. If we are able to win a couple of our remaining 12 games and a few conference games, the season will end on a good note.”

Last Wednesday the Yeomen traveled to Case Western Reserve University and came away with a 7-3 victory (see right).

Oberlin’s next game is Saturday against Myers.