2005 News
The Wittenberg University baseball team made some strides in 2005, combining a solid pitching staff, a solid defense and an offense that hit for average but didn't generate much power to put themselves in almost every game.
A solid spring sports season has reaped individual rewards for 35 Wittenberg University athletes who were selected to All-North Coast Athletic Conference teams over the last two weeks.
Wittenberg University baseball standout Jon Komperda, class of 2005, has been recognized for the combination of his athletic and academic accomplishments with first-team CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America College Division All-District IV honors.
Just two weeks after he thought his baseball career had come to a close, Wittenberg University baseball standout Kurt Hartfelder, class of 2004, got one of those rare second chances in life.
The Wittenberg baseball team saw their 2005 season come to an end last weekend at nationally ranked Wooster in the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament semifinals. By losing the first two games of a three-game series at Wooster, the defending conference champion, by scores of 4-0 and 15-8, Wittenberg bowed out with records of 21-16 overall and 9-5 in the NCAC West Division.
In their first North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament appearance in three years, the Wittenberg Tigers dropped both ends of a doubleheader at the College of Wooster Saturday, 4-0 and 15-8. The losses dropped the Tigers to 21-16 overall after a 9-5 record in the NCAC West Division, good for a second-place tie with Ohio Wesleyan and a berth in the four-team tournament by virtue of tiebreaker criteria.
The Wittenberg baseball team broke through this week, capturing the biggest game of the year on Wednesday with a 5-2 victory over Denison in the first game of the final North Coast Athletic Conference West Division series of the 2005 season. In the inconsequential nightcap, the West Division champion Big Red won 13-5.
The Wittenberg Tigers spent eight days watching the radar screens, hoping to play baseball. It was worth the wait as the Tigers pulled off a split with the homestanding Denison Big Red, winning the first game 5-2 and losing the nightcap 13-5 on a cold, blustery night.
The Wittenberg baseball team has new life, thanks to a seven-game win streak that included a four-game sweep of North Coast Athletic Conference West Division rival Earlham last weekend. The Tigers are now 20-13 overall and 8-4 in the NCAC West heading into this weekends key four-game showdown with division-leading Denison in Granville, Ohio.
How things change in just a week's time. The Wittenberg Tigers were a struggling outfit after losing three of four home games to Thomas More on April 9-10, but that seems like a long time ago. On Tuesday, the Tigers won their seventh straight game, taking to the road for the first time in two weeks and pulling out a 10-9 extra-inning victory over Muskingum.
The Wittenberg Tigers got just what they had to have on a beautiful spring afternoon at Carleton Davidson Stadium. The Tigers took a pair of North Coast Athletic Conference West Division games from visiting Earlham College, 12-4 and 16-4.
In an important turn of events for the struggling Wittenberg Tigers, a two-run ninth-inning rally earned an 8-7 non-conference victory over the visiting Otterbein Cardinals.
Just what the doctor ordered for the struggling Wittenberg Tiger baseball team. A well-pitched game by three different pitchers, a solid defensive performance and a 12-hit offensive attack added up to a 12-3 victory over visiting Cedarville University, just a day after Thomas More swept a doubleheader by scores of 9-2 and 13-0.
The Tiger baseball team suffered a couple of blows on Sunday as they were torched by Thomas More College, 9-2 and 13-0. The 13-0 loss is the worst one this season for the Tigers. In the first game Brad Koopman's (Pleasant Hill, Ohio/Newton) home run in the seventh inning kept the Tigers from being shut out twice in one day.
The Wittenberg Tigers have made a habit of splitting doubleheaders in North Coast Athletic Conference West Division play. So it figures that the Tigers would split a doubleheader out of conference as they won Game 1 against visiting Thomas More, 5-3, but lost Game 2 by a score of 6-4.
The Wittenberg Tigers are still in search of that perfect game in which all of the elements come together in perfect harmony - pitching, defense and offense. Wednesday night's 11-6 home win over Ohio Athletic Conference rival Wilmington was possibly a step toward each of those goals as the Tiger offense broke out for a big night, junior Justin McCulla turned in a solid start and the defense committed just one error.
