Big Wins For Tigers On Day 1 Versus Ohio Wesleyan
The Wittenberg baseball team came up with two big wins with 8-4 and 3-2 victories over Ohio Wesleyan at Carleton Davidson Stadium Saturday.
SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — The Wittenberg baseball team came up with two big wins with 8-4 and 3-2 victories over Ohio Wesleyan at Carleton Davidson Stadium Saturday. The Tigers made up crucial ground in the North Coast Athletic Conference West Division race in moving to 7-5 in league action.
The Bishops, just ahead of Wittenberg in the West Division standings at 8-6, came up with 18 hits between the two games, but the Tiger defense and pitching kept the runs from coming across. The pitching staff allowed only four two-out hits all day.
In Game 1, senior starting pitcher Bobby Ciucki (Dublin, Ohio/Coffman) gave up four runs in a volatile first inning, but settled in for the long haul and held the Bishops scoreless through the end of the fifth. Meanwhile, the Tiger offense scored three in the third and overtook OWU in the fourth with four, then tacked on the exclamation point with their eighth run in the fifth.
After finding the zone, Ciucki cruised to the win, but got some impressive help from freshman Kevin Tolle (Englewood, Ohio/Northmont), who sat down all six batters he faced in the sixth and seventh to close the game, though according to NCAA statistics policies, he did not qualify for the save.
Freshman left fielder Nick Van Dyne (Hilliard, Ohio/Davidson) started the Tigers' comeback with a two-RBI triple to the right field wall in the third inning, and junior designated hitter Mike Yednock (Worthington, Ohio/Thomas Worthington) drove Van Dyne home with an infield single in the next at bat. Van Dyne added another RBI in the fourth inning, after freshman third baseman Nate Lavey (Covington, Ohio/Covington) doubled to bring home two.
Lavey himself came home after senior right fielder Kory Winter (Dublin, Ohio/Scioto) singled on a bunt and the throw to first skipped past the first baseman. Freshman second baseman Zac Daniels (Hilliard, Ohio/Davidson) drove in the Tigers' run in the fifth.
Game 2, scoreless through three innings, ended up a pitchers' duel. The Bishops blinked first when Winter and Van Dyne knocked in back-to-back two-out RBIs in the fourth. The Bishops responded in the top of the fifth with one run, but the Tigers canceled it with one of their own in the bottom of the frame when freshman shortstop Grant Goodwin (Hilliard, Ohio/Davidson) singled home junior first baseman Zach Spring (Powell, Ohio/Olentangy Liberty) from second.
The Bishops gave Wittenberg a scare in the seventh, scoring one unearned run after an error by Goodwin that would have ended the inning. Senior closer Darrin Mumaw (Fort Loramie, Ohio/Fort Loramie) took over to get the final out and in the process earned the save, but only after an excellent 6-2/3 inning start from freshman Zach Clark (Sidney, Ohio/Anna).
Clark allowed just two runs, one earned, on 10 hits, stifling nearly every Ohio Wesleyan scoring opportunity with fly outs and double-play balls. The defense turned two double plays behind Clark, including one with the bases loaded. Lavey fielded a hard grounder at third and threw to junior catcher Jason Haunty (Worthington, Ohio/Thomas Worthington) at the plate for the force out, and Haunty turned and fired to first to get the batter to end the bases-loaded threat.
Clark finished the game with four strikeouts against three walks.
The Tigers get right back at it on Sunday, April 18, completing the weekend series with Ohio Wesleyan in a doubleheader starting at Noon at Carleton Davidson Stadium.
Written by: John Strawn '07