Coming off of a tough loss against Denison almost 24 hours before, John Carroll was looking to redeem themselves against the Yeomen of Oberlin College.

Getting a first home win of 2019 was also a goal.

It took a late inning run, some terrific catches in the outfield and clutch pitching by the back end of the bullpen to produce a 6-5 victory.

The last time these two out of conference teams saw each other was on April 4th in Oberlin, Ohio where John Carroll lost, 12-4.

In order to seek the redemption they were looking for, the Blue Streaks had to come out hot. They did just that right off the bat in the first inning. With bases loaded, junior David Ferguson hit a double to left center. Dom Mittiga, Derek Penman, and Patrick Keohane all crossed home plate, making the score 3-0 for the Blue Steaks.

"I just wanted to hit the ball hard and far" said Ferguson, "I've kept my swing the same all year and it's really coming around now."

The inning wasn't over there. Junior catcher Joe Charpentier singled to right field, allowing both Michael Anderson and Ferguson to say hello to home plate. That enabled the Blue Streaks to increase their lead to 5-0.

The Yeomen answered back in the top of the fourth inning, with Alexis Castillo, Jacob Thompson, Ben Reed, and Jack Marsjanik all scoring, inching closer to taking the lead from the Blue Streaks.

A sacrifice fly in the top of the sixth scored Reed from third, knotting things up at five runs a piece.

With all the momentum working against them, John Carroll worked hard to answer the Oberlin charge. In the bottom of the seventh, their hard work paid off with a score from Penman off of a single from Aaron Zawadzki to recapture the advantage.

Nate Wenson came into get the save after Duncan Cappar exited with the win during the eighth.  Wenson pitched an easy ninth, allowing just one infield single before getting the third and final out.

There were also some great catches, notably a diving over the shoulder grab in deep center by Matthew Springer that saved extra bases to lead off the seventh.

"It's good to get the monkey off the back"  said Coach Ryan Nordquist about winning at home for the first time in four tries this season. "It's been tough having to travel to play 'home games' on the road."  Nordquist also said about the road ahead lined with doubleheaders against the past 3 OAC champions, "We know what kind of gauntlet this will be and we will try to play our best baseball in the end of the year."

Oberlin is now 12-16 on the year, while John Carroll moves to 21-11.

The Blue Streaks will be back at Schweickert Field on Saturday, April 27th where they will face the Pioneers of Marietta College for a league doubleheader, with games at 1:00 and 4:00 pm.