Chillicothe, Ohio – Senior Robin Witjes belted a walk-off single to the gap in left center in the bottom of the 12^th inning to lift the Oberlin College baseball team to a thrilling, 6-5, victory over Denison University in the elimination game of the NCAC Tournament on Thursday night.
 
The victory marks the first playoff win in school history and advances the Yeomen into a semifinal matchup against the Gators of Allegheny College tomorrow at 10 a.m.
 
The 12^th inning started with a line-drive single back up the middle by Jeff Schweighoffer. He would later advance to second base on a wild pitch and then rookie catcher Brian Hemmert drew a clutch six-pitch two-out walk to set the stage for Witjes. The senior from Howell, Michigan, who has had an amazing four-year career, then came through with the biggest hit of his Yeomen tenure to keep the magical season alive.

However, Witjes' efforts would have been all for naught had it not been for freshman pitcher Harrison Wollman and sophomore shortstop Mitch Novak.
 
Oberlin entered the ninth down 5-3, but found a way to even the score. Andrew Hutson reached on a wild-pitch strikeout to start the inning and then Mattie DeDoes would hit a chopper to first – but the pitcher covering missed the bag to put two men on with nobody out. A walk to Witjes would load the bases, but Denison was able to get the first out of the inning at the plate. However, Novak continued to swing a hot bat as he sent a hard-hit liner through the right side to score DeDoes and Witjes to tie the game.
 
Wollman, who entered with one out in the eighth, stymied the Big Red lineup over 4.2 innings en route to improving to 4-3 on the year. The freshman from Pacific Palisades, California, allowed just one hit and one walk while fanning three.
 
Oberlin got on the board first, scoring a pair of runs in the second inning. Daniel Baldocchi led off the inning with a towering solo home run that hit off of the scoreboard in left center and Ryan Bliss would later draw a bases-loaded walk.
 
The teams would each trade runs in the third with the Yeomen run coming off of a Denison error. However, Denison would even the game at 3-3 an inning later - scoring a pair of runs on four hits.
 
It would remain 3-3 until the top of the seventh when the Big Red would take advantage of a two-out walk and a single to grab a 4-3 lead. The Big Red would then add another tally in the eighth to go up two, 5-3, but the Yeomen would erase that deficit in the ninth.
 
Senior Eric Knight got the start on the mound and scattered 10 hits over seven full innings. He was charged with four earned runs while walking five and striking out five in the no-decision.
 
Schweighoffer was the only Yeomen with more than one hit in the game as he finished 3-for-6 with a double and two runs scored.
 
Oberlin and Allegheny will square off tomorrow at 10 a.m. The winner will then advance to the championship round to take on Wooster later in the afternoon.