Wittenberg Falls In 11 Innings To Ohio Northern
The Wittenberg Tigers hit the road on Tuesday, and almost everything that could go wrong wound up doing just that. The Tigers lost a 6-5 decision in 11 innings to host Ohio Northern in non-conference action.
ADA, Ohio - The Wittenberg Tigers hit the road on Tuesday, and almost everything that could go wrong wound up doing just that. The Tigers lost a 6-5 decision in 11 innings to host Ohio Northern in non-conference action.
The loss dropped Wittenberg to 9-7 overall on the 2006 season, while Ohio Northern improved to 4-6. The Tigers have now lost three in a row after a dramatic North Coast Athletic Conference West Division sweep of Denison on Sunday in Springfield. Wittenberg is off until a four-game weekend series against preseason division favorite Ohio Wesleyan back home in Carleton Davidson Stadium on Saturday and Sunday.
The Tigers continued to struggle defensively, with the exception of sophomore catcher Matt Steinke, who turned in a phenomenal performance behind the plate. While he managed just one hit in five plate appearances, Steinke threw out five of Ohio Northern's ridiculous 12 base stealers in the game, and he was credited with nine assists and nine putouts in the 11-inning game. Wittenberg does not track single-game records for either statistical category.
Wittenberg committed three errors in the game, including a pair in the decisive 11th inning. The Tigers were unable to cleanly field either Ohio Northern bunt in the inning, first allowing the Polar Bears to load the bases and then allowing them to push across the winning run on a bases-loaded suicide squeeze.
Offensively, Wittenberg banged out 14 hits in the game, led by three each from freshman Patrick Williams and sophomore Jon Fox, although he left the game in the eighth inning after crashing into the outfield fence in pursuit of a two-run homer that gave ONU a 5-4 lead. The Tigers tied it up in the ninth on an RBI base hit by sophomore Jeremey Fruhwirth with two outs in the bottom of the ninth.
Freshman pitcher Tim Antil overcame six hits and five walks to allow just two runs, one earned, in seven strong innings. He stood to be the winning pitcher until sophomore Joel Puthoff gave up his first three earned runs of the season in the bottom of the eighth inning. Sophomore Ryan Cronk took the loss despite going 2.1 strong innings, allowing only one hit, four walks and one unearned run, the game-winner on a bases-loaded suicide squeeze.