April 15th, 2003: Baseball Review
The Tiger baseball team has a lot of work to do as the 2003 season hits the stretch run after splitting four home games over the weekend with NCAC West Division rival Earlham. Wittenberg is in fourth place in a loaded five-team division, and only the top two teams make the NCAC Tournament.
The Tiger baseball team has a lot of work to do as the 2003 season hits the stretch run after splitting four home games over the weekend with NCAC West Division rival Earlham. Wittenberg is in fourth place in a loaded five-team division, and only the top two teams make the NCAC Tournament.
Fortunately for the Tigers, the ground can still be made up, but it wont be easy. The first opportunity will be Thursday and Saturday when Wittenberg plays four games against first-place Denison in Granville. The following weekend features four games at defending division champion Ohio Wesleyan.
Last week, the Tigers started off with a 3-1 loss at Division I Dayton on Thursday. Wittenberg led 1-0, thanks to a third-inning run scored by sophomore Jon Komperda (Bay Village, Ohio/Bay) until the eighth inning, when the Flyers scored three times.
In the weekend series against Earlham, the Tigers won the second and third games by finals of 12-7 and 3-0, but dropped the opener and the finale counts of 7-5 and 8-3. Wittenberg led in both of the losses as late as the fourth inning.
The opener went nine innings after Earlham rallied to tie it with two runs in the seventh inning. Offensively, Wittenberg got two hits and an RBI each from Komperda and junior Matt Oberdorfer (Chagrin Falls, Ohio/Kenston). In Saturdays nightcap, six players had two-hit games, and four players scored at least two runs, including sophomore James Kaylor (Vandalia, Ohio/Butler), who crossed the plate three times.
In Sundays opener, senior Brian Robinson (Columbus, Ohio/Centennial) pitched a gem, going the distance for the shutout victory. He allowed just four hits and four walks in seven games, while sophomore Brandon Godzik (Vandalia, Ohio/Butler) and sophomore Matt Foster (Granville, Ohio/Granville) contributed two hits apiece to the offensive attack.
In the series finale, however, the Tigers let an early 2-0 lead slip away as the Quakers struck for six in the decisive fourth inning. Komperda and freshman K.R. Schlievert (Findlay, Ohio/Findlay) led the offense with two hits each, but it wasnt enough.