Oberlin, Ohio – The Oberlin College baseball team earned a doubleheader sweep of the visiting Allegheny College Gators on Monday to secure second place in the North Coast Athletic Conference East Division, and a return trip to the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament the second weekend in May.
 
The Yeomen took game one 8-5 and rallied for three in the sixth to win game two 4-3.  By winning three of four games in the series, Oberlin moved to 10-6 in the NCAC East Division and by winning the series it has the tiebreak advantage over the Gators who will enter the crossover series at 7-9 in conference action. Meaning no matter what happens next weekend, Oberlin will be the No. 2 seed from the east at the tournament.
 
In addition to securing a postseason berth, the Yeomen will also host the NCAC Crossover Series for the first time in school history. They will play the yet-to-be-determined third-place team from the West Division this coming weekend at Dill Field with two games on Saturday and one on Sunday.
 
The Yeomen head into the stretch run red hot as they have won 10 of their last 12 games to move to 20-17 overall, marking just the third 20-win season in program history. Furthermore, Oberlin will be making just its third trip to the NCAC Tournament having also done so in 2013 and 2015.
 
In game one the Yeomen broke open what had been a 1-1 pitchers' duel with a six-run fourth in which they sent 10 men to the plate.  With one away in the inning, junior Sam Harris came through with a clutch two-run live drive that went over the shortstop's head to score Mike Masella and Milo Sklar and give the Yeomen a 3-1 lead. A Gators' error led to another run coming across before senior co-captain Justin Cruz delivered an RBI single to left field.  The back-breaking blow for the Gators came courtesy of senior Brian Carney as he smashed a two-RBI double off the wall in right center to make it 7-1.
 
The Gators took advantage of two Oberlin errors to get a pair back in the fifth to cut into the deficit and would put pressure back on the Yeomen with two more in the sixth to make it a 7-5 game.
 
Playing just seven innings in game one due to conference policy of rescheduled games, the Yeomen went into the bottom of the sixth looking to create some additional breathing room and got some as catcher Brendan Mapes rapped a two-out running-scoring double to right center to increase the Oberlin cushion to three.
 
Senior Ben Lovett would come on in relief of starter Zachary Steer to work the seventh and he locked down his first-career save with the help of a 5-4-3 double play along the way.
 
Steer was sharp through the front six innings as he allowed just four hits and two walks. All five runs went towards his final line, but just two were earned. He struck three in the win as he moved to 5-1 on the season.
 
Oberlin scored the game's first run on a sac fly in the first by Mapes before Allegheny squared it a 1-1 in the top of the third.
 
Oberlin had nine hits in the game with Cruz accounting for three of them as he also added three runs scored. Sklar also had two hits and a run scored in the win.
 
With goal number one of securing a home series in the books, the Yeomen went into game two with a larger prize in mind.
 
Oberlin struck first, posting a single tally in the home-half of the first on a sac fly to left by Carney.
 
However, sophomore starter Noah Gear would run into some trouble in the third, as the Gators would take a 3-1 lead, using four hits and an Oberlin error in the inning. Give Gear credit though as he induced an inning-ending double play groundout of Chase Davis to limit the damage and keep the Yeomen within striking distance.
 
It would remain 3-1 heading into the bottom of the sixth, but that was when the Yeomen offense would come alive to score three in the inning to take the lead for good. Carney jumpstarted the rally a he led off with a towering home run over the wall in right field for his seventh round-tripper of the season. Junior Quin Butler followed with double and he would come around to score on Jack Brewester's triple to right center field to tie the game.  With two away and pinch runner Maxx McGhee representing the tying run at third base, Sam Harris came to the plate. He delivered the go-ahead runs in game one and would do the same in the nightcap as he hit a high chopper to third base that Davis sat back on and Harris hustled his way down the line to beat the throw from across the diamond for what proved to be the game-winning RBI infield single.
 
After going six innings and sprinkling eight hits, Gear (4-1) was in line for the win and was lifted from the game as Head Coach Adrian Abrahamowicz turned to his bullpen for the final nine outs.
 
Senior Joe Greenberg would get the first out in the seventh, before Nicholas Morgan finished the job with two weak fly outs.
 
In the eighth, Charlie Goetz allowed just one hit and he would then turn things over to Sklar in the ninth. The Brooklyn, New York, native got the first two hitters to ground out before surrendering a two-out single. However, just two pitches later he got Robert DiMiaggio to ground out to Masella to end the game and start the on-field celebration.
 
For Sklar it was his sixth save of the year, tying former Yeomen great Phil Brua for the most in a season. He also surpassed Brua (11) for first on the all-time saves list, as it was the 12^th of his career.
 
Oberlin had 12 hits in the game with Harris going 3-for-3 to lead the way. Cruz, Ian Dinsmore and Carney each had two in the victory. In the series, Cruz hit .563 as he was 9-of-16.
 
The Yeomen will wait to find out whom their opponent will be in the crossover, which will start on Saturday.