Crusaders Top Tigers In Tuesday Action

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Wittenberg baseball team dropped a midweek contest to Capital University on the road on Tuesday afternoon, falling 16-5 after the Crusaders put up two big innings.

The Tigers fell to 3-8 overall on the season while Capital improved to 9-10. They scored six runs in the second inning and again in the fourth, adding two in the fifth and one in the sixth and seventh. Wittenberg posted one run in the second and one in the fourth before a three-spot in the fifth.

Junior Will Cousins (Medfield, Mass./Medfield) posted a bevy of different statistics, going 2-for-3 with a double and a triple, an RBI, a sacrifice hit and a sacrifice fly. He was one of four different players with an RBI as senior Zac Wilson (Eaton, Ohio/Eaton) took one for the team on a hit-by-pitch to drive a run across in the second, sophomore Josh Kaplan (Northbrook, Ill./Glenbrook North) walked with the bases loaded in the fifth and Aaron Patrick had a single to score a run in the fourth.

Patrick finished the game 2-for-3 with a walk and Wilson was 1-for-3 with a walk, while sophomore Cal Slusarz (Chesterland, Ohio/West Geauga) had a hit in five at bats to match freshman Timmy Bates (Westerville, Ohio/South), and freshman Erik Olson (Chicago, Ill./Loyola Academy) was 1-for-3 with a walk.

Senior Mike Burgher (Birmingham, Mich./Seaholm) was saddled with the loss on the mound and sophomore Trent Champlin (Gahanna, Ohio/Lincoln) appeared in the game in a relief role, followed up by a solid three innings by freshman Kal Patterson (Westlake, Ohio/Westlake), who allowed just two hits to score two runs, neither earned, with two walks.

The Tigers resume North Coast Athletic Conference action with a four-game series at Wabash, starting on Friday, April 3, at Noon in Crawfordsville, Ind.

John Strawn '07