Baseball Recap Entering May

The Wittenberg University baseball team won three out of five games last week, but the two games the Tigers lost came against Ohio Wesleyan in a three-game series that determined the North Coast Athletic Conference West Division championship and homefield advantage in the semifinals of the conference playoffs.

Wittenberg was swept 10-5 and 12-5 in a doubleheader by Ohio Wesleyan on Saturday, April 28, before recovering for a 7-4 win in the final game on April 29. As a result, the Battling Bishops, ranked in the top-15 nationally and the top-5 in the region, will again host the Tigers, who are ranked No. 7 in the region, in a best of three semifinal series this weekend. The two teams first meet in a doubleheader on Saturday, and a third and deciding game is slated for Sunday if necessary. All games will be nine inning contests, and the winner will move on to the Championship Series May 12-13 at Thurman Munson Stadium in Canton, Ohio against either the College of Wooster or Allegheny College, the top two teams in the East Division who also play a series this weekend.

Earlier in the week the Tigers made up a pair of rainouts with an 11-7 win at Denison and an 8-7 triumph against Wabash. Senior first baseman Ryan Peters (London, Ohio/London) and junior centerfielder Lance Dill (Bellville, Ohio/Clear Fork) each drove in three runs against Denison, while Peters had a two-run double in the bottom of the ninth to win the Wabash game. In the win over the Little Giants, the Tigers coughed up a 6-4 lead in the ninth inning and had to rally behind a leadoff double by junior shortstop Bryan Burke (Brunswick, Ohio/Brunswick), a well-placed bunt by sophomore infielder Shane Thomas (Columbus, Ohio/South), an intentional walk to Dill and then the clutch double to the base of the fence in right-centerfield by Peters.
Peters ranks fourth in the NCAC in hitting (.450) and is in a three-way tie for first in home runs (12). Freshman pitcher Kurt Hartfelder (Columbus, Ohio/Upper Arlington), who won a pair of games last week, ranks seventh in the conference in earned run average (3.57) and has a 5-1 record.