Tigers Fall to Ohio Northern in Non-Conference Matchup
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
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2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 11 | 12 | 1 |
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0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 8 | 1 |
SPRINGFIELD, OH – Wittenberg's baseball team put forth a valiant effort against a tough Ohio Northern team in a non-conference battle on Sunday, April 27, at Carleton Davidson Stadium, but the Tigers couldn't stop a late rally by the Polar Bears, who received votes in the latest d3baseball.com top 25 college rankings.
Things were at a 4-4 stalemate through seven innings as Ohio Northern scored two in the first and two in the fifth and Wittenberg put up one in the third and three in the fifth to tie it up. However, the floodgates opened in the top of the eighth inning as the Polar Bears exploded for seven runs to take an 11-4 lead that would hold up as the final score.
The loss snapped a seven-game win streak for Wittenberg, which drops to 25-9 overall with five dates remaining on the schedule. Remaining games for the Tigers include North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) doubleheaders against Oberlin on Tuesday, April 29 (noon and 3 p.m.) and against fifth-ranked Denison on Saturday, May 3 (noon and 3 p.m.), along with a non-conference matchup at home against Muskingum on Thursday, May 1, beginning at 5 p.m.
Firmly in the top four of the NCAC standings with four games to play, Wittenberg and Wooster are in a tie for second with matching records of 9-3. Denison currently leads the conference with a record of 10-1.
Against Ohio Northern, Tommy Chilicki (Lewis Center, OH / Olentangy) went 1-for-3 on the day with a homer that brought in three of the Tigers' four runs. Rocco Royer (Lake Bluff, IL / Lake Forest) was 2-for-4 and drove in the Tigers' other run. He also scored a run. Alex Nemunaitis (Perrysburg, OH / Ottawa Hills) and Quintin Applegate (Delaware, OH / Olentangy Berlin) each had a double. Nemunaitis had two hits and scored a run.
Wittenberg finished with four runs on eight hits, while Ohio Northern had 11 runs on 12 hits. Chilicki pitched the first four innings for the Tigers, giving up four earned runs on four hits while walking two and striking out one. Mikey Eickhoff (Akron, OH / St. Vincent-St. Mary) suffered the loss on the mound as he went 3.1 innings and gave up two earned runs on three hits while walking three and striking out two.
Written By: Cindy Holbrook