Tigers Drop Pair To Wabash, 6-2 and 5-4
Little Giants complete four-game NCAC West Division sweep.
Game 1
Game 1
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 7 | 2 |
|
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1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 1 |
Game 2
Game 2
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 11 | 1 |
|
|
1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 9 | 2 |
SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - The Wittenberg Tigers remain in search of their first home win of the 2014 season after the second doubleheader sweep by Wabash in as many days.
The losses, by scores of 6-2 and 5-4, dropped Wittenberg to 3-11 overall and 0-4 in the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) West Division. Wabash improved to 9-7 overall and 4-0 in the league.
The doubleheader was originally scheduled for Saturday before a storm brought inclement weather to the Buckeye state. The new date made it the second of a four-day stretch of games for the Tigers, with non-conference tilts against Ohio Athletic Conference rivals Otterbein and Wilmington on tap the next two nights.
In the opener, the two teams each scored a run in the first inning before Wabash put two on the board in the second frame. Wittenberg would answer with a run in the bottom of the third, but the Little Giants put the game out of reach with a three-spot in the top of the seventh.
Junior Mike Burgher (Birmingham, Mich./Seaholm) took the loss after going 6.1 innings. He allowed six runs (five earned) on six hits and two walks while striking out five, but his undoing was four wild pitches and three hit batsmen.
Offensively, Wittenberg came up with seven hits, including two apiece from junior Zac Wilson (Eaton, Ohio/Eaton) and senior David Moore (Tipp City, Ohio/Tippecanoe).
Moore added four more hits in the nightcap, including a double in the bottom of the ninth inning that missed clearing the fence by no more than a foot. It would have been a game-tying base home run, but instead the Tigers wound up with a narrow defeat, their sixth in a row since returning from Spring Break in Florida.
The two teams traded runs in the first inning again in Game 2, and the Tigers took their first lead of the four-game series in the bottom of the third after the Little Giants had scored once in the top of the inning. No sooner had Wittenberg taken a 3-2 lead than Wabash re-gained the advantage with three in the fourth. The Tigers got one back in the sixth, but they stranded 10 runners in the game.
Sophomore Jordan Hitt (South Charleston, Ohio/Southeastern) pitched six innings, allowing five runs (four earned) on nine hits and two walks. Junior Frank Sullivan (Milford, Ohio/Milford) and senior Jonathan Long (Marysville, Ohio/Marysville) combined to toss three innings of scoreless relief.
Wilson scored two runs and drove in another, and senior Tyler Hutchinson (Lebanon, Ohio/Cincinnati Moeller) collected a pair of hits and an RBI.