OBERLIN, Ohio – The College of Wooster baseball team is back in the win column, and did so in convincing fashion, sweeping aside Oberlin College 12-2 and 12-5 on Sunday afternoon at Dill Field, in what marked the North Coast Athletic Conference lid-lifter for the Fighting Scots.
Wooster (7-10, 2-0 NCAC) did not strike until the fifth inning of the opening game, and it was a crooked number when all was said and done. Senior designed hitter Dane Camphausen drew a bases loaded walk to break the scoreless tie. Senior right fielder Dean Brown's single to left field plated junior shortstop Grant Mitchell. An Oberlin (6-8, 0-2 NCAC) error, plus a bases loaded walk issued to sophomore third baseman Nick Pett upped the lead to 4-0.
Sophomore first baseman Ryan Kramer crushed a three-run homer to right field in the seventh, and Camphausen followed suit with a solo shot to pad the lead to 11. Prior to Kramer's blast, senior center fielder Leo Widtmann scored on a wild pitch. The damage from the homers was set up by Oberlin's inability to find the strike zone. Widtmann, junior second baseman Eli Westrick, and Mitchell all walked before the Scots turned to the longball.
Junior Corey Knauf (1-0) went the distance, allowing two runs (one earned) on seven hits. He struck out one in the run-ruled win.
Vince Dolcemaschio was saddled with the loss. He walked five and had six hits, four runs, and five strikeouts on his five-inning line.
Wooster first-year catcher Colin Leslie's two-run triple started game two's scoring, and Mitchell doubled Wooster's lead to 4-0 with a two-run fourth-inning single. The Scots' lead became 6-1 on Kramer's two-run double to right center in the sixth. Oberlin pulled within 6-2 in the bottom of the frame, before Wooster broke things open in the seventh. Mitchell cleared the bases with a three-run triple that made it a 10-2 game. An inning later, Camphausen's second homer of the day pushed Wooster's lead to 11-2.
Senior Ryan Sullivan pitched well, allowing four runs on five hits in 7 2/3 innings. First-year Sammy De Maio went the rest of the way, allowing a run on three hits in 1 1/3 innings.
Justin Fuls took the loss, allowing four runs (two earned) on three hits in 3 2/3 innings.
Mitchell swung the big stick for Wooster, going 5-for-6 with seven RBI, two triples, and a double. Brown and Westrick had three hits apiece and Kramer knocked in five runs.
John Schooner and Joe Strabley each tallied three hits for Oberlin. Strabley's two RBI tied for the team lead.
Wooster is back in action at Kenyon College (13-6, 1-1 NCAC) on Tuesday, April 4. First pitch is set for noon.