Tigers Even Season Series With Otterbein
The Wittenberg baseball team used a 6-4 win to even up the season series with Otterbein in their final meeting of the 2010 campaign Thursday evening. The Tigers used timely hitting and fielding to improve to 10-17 overall.
WESTERVILLE, Ohio — The Wittenberg baseball team used a 6-4 win to even up the season series with Otterbein in their final meeting of the 2010 campaign Thursday evening. The Tigers used timely hitting and fielding to improve to 10-17 overall.
The Tigers showed defensive intensity from the first inning, when senior right fielder Kory Winter (Dublin, Ohio/Scioto)and cutoff man Zac Daniels (Hilliard, Ohio/Davidson)combined with junior catcher Jason Haunty (Worthington, Ohio/Thomas Worthington) to gun down an Otterbein runner attempting to score from second on a double, ending the inning and preventing any damage.
In the Tigers next turn at bat, they displayed an offensive intensity to match. With the bases loaded and one out, freshman Nate Lavey (Covington, Ohio/Covington), starting for just the fifth time this year, successfully laid down a sacrifice squeeze bunt to score junior Zach Spring (Powell, Ohio/Olentangy Liberty).
In the third, the Tigers added two, one on an RBI groundout off the bat of Spring and the other on a Haunty single into left. Otterbein got on the board with one in the bottom of the inning, but junior Mike Yednock (Worthington, Ohio/Thomas Worthington) answered with an RBI double in the top of the fourth.
Otterbein responded with two runs in the bottom of the fourth, but Tiger starting pitcher Jim Clement (Chicago, Ill./Whitney Young) held the Cardinals scoreless in the fifth. Clement left after pitching five innings and allowing three runs on six hits with four strikeouts and no walks.
Senior Chris Green (Cincinnati, Ohio/LaSalle) threw one inning and allowed only one hit and one walk before giving way to senior Darrin Mumaw (Fort Loramie, Ohio/Fort Loramie). He pitched the seventh, an inning which saw Otterbein tie the game with one run on one hit and one walk.
After Mumaw finished off the seventh, the Tigers plated the game-winning run on a two RBI single to center field off the bat of freshman left fielder Nick Van Dyne () in the eighth. With a two-run lead, the Tigers called on sophomore Ted Skalla (Winnetka, Ill./New Trier) to take the mound, and he responded with two hitless innings to preserve the lead and earn the win.
Van Dyne led the Tigers with two RBIs on 2-for-5 hitting, while Yednock, Haunty and Lavey all pushed across one. Lavey went 2-for-3 on the day with a sacrifice hit and two runs scored, and freshman shortstop Grant Goodwin (Hilliard, Ohio/Davidson) tagged a triple to right center in the third.
The Tigers return to North Coast Athletic Conference West Division action this weekend with doubleheaders versus Ohio Wesleyan beginning at Noon on Saturday, April 17, and Sunday, April 18, at Carleton-Davidson Stadium in Springfield.
Written by: John Strawn '07