Baseball has conference win, drops one

The baseball team picked up its second win of the season on Saturday against Denison University but then dropped two to Heidelburg College and Bluffton College. The win was the first conference win of the season for the team and it was the capstone in a solid week of competitive baseball for the 2-27 Yeomen. The man on Saturday was pitcher first-year Matt Burns, who got his first win of the season by going the whole way, giving up two runs and striking out six.

Assisstant Coach Eric Lahetta praised Burns' effort and commented on his finest performance of the year. "Matt has grown a lot this year," he said. "Early in the season he was a thrower, but now he is a pitcher." Lahetta also commented on Burns' ability to learn under fire, as he has been literally thrown in with the rest of the small OC pitching staff.

Burns' cause was greatly helped by a heads-up play by right fielder junior Raf Haciski in the sixth inning. Leading 3-1, Haciski was on first when the Big Red pitcher misfielded a relay throw. He headed to second and, rounding the bag, noticed that Hindman, the pitcher, was sulking and had neglected to call time as he went to retrieve the ball. Haciski sped towards third and stole his first base of the season due to his attentiveness. Haciski scored the crucial fourth run when sophomore Mike Fradin grounded to the left side of the infield.

Despite losing the second game to Denison, 4-2, the Yeomen came home and played a stirring game against Heidelberg on Sunday. It was Haciski this time who had the strong pitching performance. After the Yeomen scored in the bottom of the fourth, Heidelberg rallied for four runs in the fifth inning, though many of those hits were frustrating "Texas Leaguers."

But Oberlin showed its resolve as they rallied for two runs in the sixth behind the bats of sophomore Dave Schummers, junior Brendan Cody, and Fradin. Schummers has steadily improved his bat as the season has progressed; his .286 average is third on the team and he had 3 hits on Monday. As Lahetta said: "He's a hitter." Haciski tightened up his game, too, as he retired the side in the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings.

The big break for Oberlin came in the seventh when a pop-up by Fradin was dropped by Heidelberg, and Schummers hustled in to give the Yeomen a 5-4 lead. Alas, that was all of the good fortune left for Oberlin. Heidelberg tied the game in the ninth and scored three runs in the tenth to beat OC.

Sophomore Carson Keeble, making his first appearance in over a week, took the loss, and it was "the toughest loss of the season" for him.

On Wednesday the Yeomen took a ten-man squad to Bluffton to take on the Beavers. They were without four players, including leading hitter Brendan Cody (.407), due to school conflicts. Burns pitched well again in the opener, but the Blufton playing field brought out the worst in the Yeomen's gloves as Burns gave up four unearned runs in a 9-5 loss.

On a positive note for Oberlin in the first game, catcher Sean Nagel and left fielder Fradin both hit home runs, the first for Nagel and third for Fradin. In the second game things did not go as well for the Yeomen pitchers. Sophomore Jason Quinn started and pitched pretty well, but bad defense and the weather did not help. "The wind was blowing straight out," Jason said. He gave up nine runs, five earned, and was then relieved by Schummers, who had equally bad luck, giving up 11 runs, six earned. According to Lahetta, the fifth inning just "wouldn't ever end." The Beavers rode the big fifth to a 20-9 win.

As the Yeomen head into their final week of play things are not as bad as they could be. The close games this week gave the team confidence as they will play two at Case Western Reserve University on Saturday, then host Hiram College on Sunday and Baldwin-Wallace College on Tuesday.

"In this conference there is a big split between the top four and the bottom five teams, and all five can beat each other, so we have a good shot against Case," says Lahetta. "We also always play well against Hiram. If we can get a split it will be a good week." As Oberlin baseball goes, that is a pretty fair prognosis.

Eye contact: At the Kenyon game at home last week two Yeomen establish that unspoken communication that is so crucial to a baseball team's success. (photo by Adam Reitano)