Tiger Baseball Falls in NCAC Tourney
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
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0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 0 |
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1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | X | 6 | 8 | 1 |
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
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0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 9 | 2 |
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0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 1 |
CHILLICOTHE, OH – Wittenberg Baseball went down in a heartbreaking defeat at the hands of the College of Wooster in the double-elimination North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) Tournament on Friday, May 9, at V.A. Memorial Stadium in Chillicothe, Ohio, bringing its conference tournament bid to a close.
It was the second loss of the day for the Tigers, who dropped a game in the morning to nationally ranked Denison, 6-2. That loss came less than 12 hours after a strong tourney opener for the Tigers on Thursday with a 14-2 victory over Wabash. With the two losses on Friday, the Tigers will now wait to find out if they are awarded an at-large berth in the NCAA Division III Tournament after posting records of 29-12 overall and 11-4 in the NCAC regular season.
Against Wooster, things looked as sunny as the clear skies for the No. 3 seeded Tigers, who scored once in the third and struck again in the fourth to take a 2-1 lead over the Fighting Scots, the No. 4 seed in the tournament. Behind some great pitching, that lead held up through seven innings.
However, the wheels came loose in the final two innings as Wooster scrapped out a run in the eighth to tie things at 2-2, then got a home run down the right-field line from Andrew Kerr in the top of the ninth to push across the go-ahead run.
In the bottom of the ninth, Wittenberg got a two-out double from James MacAuley (Grosse Pointe Woods, MI / Grosse Pointe North), his second of the game, but the Tigers couldn't bring him around, falling 3-2. Wooster, now 23-16-1 on the season, will face No. 1 seeded Denison, 34-5 overall, in the championship game of the NCAC Tournament, at 11 a.m. Saturday, May 10.
Team Leaders vs. Denison:
- Luke Thomas (Tallmadge, OH / Tallmadge) was 2-for-5 on the day.
- Thatcher Dietz (Westerville, OH / Westerville South) and Alex Nemunaitis (Perrysburg, OH / Ottawa Hills) each drove in a run for the Tigers on sacrifice flies.
- Xander Rodriguez (Salinas, PR / Franklin County) and Ben Seibert (Cincinnati, OH / LaSalle) each scored a run.
- Tiger pitchers gave up six runs on eight hits, walked four, and struck out five. Owen Treece (Van Wert, OH / Van Wert) punched out four of the five.
Team Leaders vs. Wooster:
- Alex Nemunaitis (Perrysburg, OH / Ottawa Hills) and Parker Gryskevich (Brownsburg, IN / Brownsburg) each lifted a sacrifice fly to drive in a run in the game.
- James MacAuley (Grosse Pointe Woods, MI / Grosse Pointe North) was 3-for-4 with two doubles on the day.
- Tommy Chilicki (Lewis Center, OH / Olentangy) was 1-for-4 with a run scored and Thatcher Dietz (Westerville, OH / Westerville South) was 1-for-3 with a run scored.
- Tiger pitchers gave up three runs on five hits, walked three and struck out 11.
Written By: Cindy Holbrook