Wittenberg Drops Home Opener To Ohio Northern

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - After a successful trip to Florida to open the season, this was not the homecoming the Wittenberg Tigers had envisioned. But for a relatively young team in search of an identity early in the 2005 season, Wednesday's 8-7 loss to Ohio Northern at Carleton Davidson Stadium had all the earmarks of a learning experience.

Wittenberg let leads of 4-1 and 7-4 slip away, in part thanks to a pair of untimely errors in the decisive three-run eighth inning Ohio Northern rally. Five Wittenberg pitchers came and went in the game, with the hard-luck loss going to junior Tyler Jacobs, who worked two innings and, after pitching the Tigers out of a jam in the Ohio Northern half of the seventh inning, allowed three unearned runs in the eighth, the last two coming on a home run by Nathan Bornhorst.

After spotting Ohio Northern a run in the third inning, Wittenberg struck for four tallies in the bottom of the inning as junior K.R. Schlievert drove home a pair with a double, freshman Jon Fox scored on a wild pitch and Schlievert came in to score an unearned run on an error by the ONU third baseman. After the Polar Bears tied it on a three-run double in the fourth inning, Wittenberg went back in front with a run in the fourth and two more in the sixth.

That was all the Tigers could muster, however, as ONU righthander Brett Auer tossed 3.1 outstanding innings of relief to pick up the win. He held Wittenberg at bay as the Polar Bears pushed a run across in the seventh inning and three more in the eighth.

Fox, who came back from Spring Break with a robust batting average of .576, added to those gaudy numbers with four singles from the leadoff spot in the order. Freshman Joel Puthoff also had a fine day offensively with two hits in three plate appearances, two runs scored and RBI and two stolen bases.