Tiger Baseball Drops NCAA Tournament Opener to Webster
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 9 | 15 | 1 |
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1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 9 | 1 |
ADRIAN, MI - Making their first appearance in the NCAA Division III Tournament in 32 years, the Wittenberg Tigers fell into a five-run hole midway through their regional tournament opener against Webster and were unable to recover in a 9-5 loss.
The nation's leader in batting average at .387, Wittenberg collected nine hits but never pieced together a trademark big inning. As a result, the No. 1-seeded Tigers will come back tomorrow for an elimination game at 11 a.m. against the loser of Friday's second game at the Adrian College Regional between the host Bulldogs, the second seed, and DePauw, the third seed.
Andrew Rust (Dublin, OH / Coffman) started and took the loss, despite holding the fourth-seeded Gorlocks to two earned runs over 5.2 innings. He struck out seven batters while scattering eight hits. Three Wittenberg relievers combined to allow seven runs (five earned) over the final 3.1 innings.
Wittenberg scored a run in the first inning on a sacrifice fly by junior first baseman Xander Rodriguez (Salinas, PR / Franklin County) that scored sophomore outfielder Landon Turner (Tipp City, OH / Tippecanoe). But the Tigers managed just two hits over the next five innings, while Webster responded with single runs in the fifth and sixth innings and four-spot in the seventh.
From there, Wittenberg outscored Webster, 4-3, but it wasn't enough. Senior second baseman Tommy Chilicki (Lewis Center, OH / Olentangy) was credited with a two-run triple in the seventh, senior shortstop James MacAuley (Grosse Pointe Woods, MI / Grosse Pointe North) pounded an RBI double to left center in the eighth, and Rodriguez tacked on a run-scoring single in the ninth. Chilicki finished with three hits and two RBIs, while Rodriguez was 1-for-3 with two runs driven in to lead Wittenberg's offense that was largely stymied by the performance of Webster starter Ryan Greifelt, a junior left-hander who worked into the eighth inning and finished with 140 pitches.
With the loss, Wittenberg fell to 31-12 over on the 2026 season, while Webster, champion of the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, improved to 31-14.
Written By: Ryan Maurer