2023 Fall Tiger Cup Championship

October 20, 2023

On Saturday October 14th, the Wittenberg Tiger baseball program finished the climax to their fall season with a 12-inning championship game known as the Tiger Cup.  The annual fall tradition in the program is to split the senior players in half and have them then draft their respective teams (Red or Black) to compete against one another during the fall. Unlike previous years, this year's draft took place before the first intersquad game and each week there was a different competition between the two teams, with the winning team earning a run towards the Tiger Cup. Through seven fall contests the Black Team won five, therefore they went into the Tiger Cup with a 5-2 score advantage before the first pitch was even thrown.

Below is a list of the senior players who both drafted and managed their respective teams:

"Team Black" Senior GMs – Conor O'Malley, Austin Luther, Justin Kreller, Parker Gryskevich,

"Team Red" Senior GMs – Matt Moore, Joe Horoszko, Nick Cunningham, Luke Thomas, Mitch Macy

Game Recap:

After Team Black started with their earned 5-2 lead, both teams were held scoreless through the first two innings of play. Austin Luther worked around an error and a single in the 1st for Team Black and Kyle Mahon worked two scoreless innings with two strikeouts for Team Red. Team Black would get on the board and extend their lead in the bottom of the 3rd inning when Tommy Chilicki (SO/IF/RHP) hit a leadoff double before Jalen Williams(JR/OF) knocked a base hit up the middle, scoring Chilicki. This was the first of four hits for Williams on the day. Justin Kreller(SR/LHP) threw a scoreless 2nd and 3rd inning keeping Team Red's bats at bay.

Team Red would respond quickly getting the run back in the top of the 4th, as Alex Nemunaitis (SO/IF/RHP) would reach on an error and would later score on an RBI groundout by Rocco Royer(JR/C) making the score 6-3. The 5th and 6th innings were scoreless after outings by Andrew Rust (SO/RHP) for team Red who went three innings pitched allowing one hit and striking out two.

Team Red would narrow the score to one with a two-run 7th inning. Royer would lead the inning off with a walk, however, after two quick outs it looked like Team Black may be able to avoid any damage before Xander Rodriguez (FR/C/IF) laced a double scoring Royer. Then, Cam Gladden (FR/OF) laced another double to score Rodriguez. With the score at 6-5 and Team Red having the momentum, Team Black responded in a big way, matching with two runs of their own. Quinten Applegate (SO/C/OF) led the inning off with a single and later came around to score on a Thatcher Dietz (FR/C/OF) single. Dietz then scored later in the inning, giving Team black the 8-5 advantage.

Unfortunately for Red this would be the end of their scoring on the day. Ben Sells (FR/RHP), Nate Floyd (JR/RHP) and Josh Moore (JR/RHP) all tossed scoreless innings down the stretch for Team Black and Owen Treece(JR/RHP) looked dominant in his two innings pitched, striking out three. Team Black would add two more in the 9th on a two RBI single by Chilicki extending their lead to 10-5. They would add another in the 10th on another RBI single by Williams putting the game's final score at 11-6. Jalen Williams received MVP honors going 4-6 with two RBIs and a double and Owen Treece would receive the Pitcher of the Game award for his performance in his two innings of work.