Tiger Baseball Ends Fall Ball With Annual Tiger Cup Competition

October 21, 2022

On Saturday, the Wittenberg Tiger baseball program finished up their fall ball season with a 14-inning World Series game known as the Tiger Cup.

The program's annual tradition separates the team into two sides, red versus black. The seniors are split in half and draft the first part of their teams. This year the draft was set for seven rounds with the following members laying the groundwork for the two teams.

ROUND	"Nooooo Buddyyyyyy" (Red Team)	"Yeahh Buddyyyyyy"(Black Team)
1	JR- Parker Gryskevich C	JR- Conor O'Malley OF
2	JR- Luke Thomas INF	JR- Ian Ash 1B
3	FR- Michael Bronowski C	JR- Austin Luther RHP
4	FR- Alex Nemunaitis INF/RHP	FR- Andrew Rust RHP
5	SO- Josh Bobey OF	FR- James MacAuley INF
6	SO- Charlie Schafer RHP	JR- Austin Morrow OF
7	SO- Kyle Mahon RHP	SO- Nate Floyd RHP

"Yeahh Buddyyyyyy" Senior GMs – Dylan Jackson, Connor Goss, Michael Osmond, Carson Rengel

"Nooooo Buddyyyyyy" Senior GMs – Nick Cunningham, Tyler Defibaugh, Max Monachino, Chase Whisner

The Red Team dominated the 14 innings, walking away with a 16-3 victory, and cementing their spot as the 2022 champions of the Tiger Cup. After a scoreless 1^st inning for both teams, The Black Team struck first in the top of the second, after a leadoff double by Ash. Freshman Dan Gladden hit a two-run shot to give The Black Team the early advantage. That lead would not last long, as The Red Team struck back. With the bases loaded and one out, Nemunaitis delivered a base hit that scored two, tying the game. The very next hitter, Tommy Chiliki, gave The Red Team the lead, 3-2, with a single of his own.

From there The Red Team never looked back. The Black Team threatened in the 4^th but with the bases loaded and one out, Nemunaitis induced a huge inning-ending double play to escape with the lead still intact. The Red Team would extend their lead in the 4^th, adding three more runs to their total. Sophomore Caleb Fogarty singled in two and later scored on a sacrifice fly by Chiliki. The Red Team continued to build their lead with a run in the 5^th after a triple by Quintin Applegate then scoring on an RBI groundout by Monachino.

In the 6^th, The Red Team would make it an 8-2 game, after Whisner was hit-by-pitch to start the inning and later scored on a groundout by Fogarty. The game would remain an 8-2 game until the 10^th where The Black Team scored their final run of the day. A two-out double by sophomore Ben Seibert followed by an RBI single by Gladden would make it 8-3 but The Red Team was able to escape without any further damage. In the bottom of the 12^th Gryskevich would score on an error making it a 9-3 game. Just to be sure there were no late inning combacks the red team exploded for 7 runs in the bottom of the 13^th. Whisner and freshman Michael Bronowski would each hit a three-run home run in the inning putting the game well out of reach.

The Tiger Cup MVP was awarded to sophomore OF Josh Bobey who went 2-3 with 3 BB and the Pitcher of the Game was awarded to JR LHP Justin Kreller who went 2 scoreless innings and did not allow a hit.