Tigers Finish 1-2 In 2005 Wittenberg Tournament

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - The Wittenberg University baseball team finished 1-2 in the 2005 Wittenberg Tournament. The "Boys of Summer" were unable to maintain early leads in their two losses to Hiram College and Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. Against Myers College, the baseball team looked like the "Sultan's of Swat" as they posted 11 runs on the board.

In a rain-shortened game the Tigers throughly dominated the fledgling program at Myers College. Myers College fielded an entirely freshman team in their first year of existence. Senior Kurt Hartfelder was on the mound and pitched a five-inning shutout allowing the Tigers to garner their seventh win in ten games. K.R. Schlievert led the Tigers at the plate with two hits and three RBIs. With a total of seven runners left on base the Tigers could have put up even more impressive numbers against the undermanned and outgunned Myers team. 

In the Tigers second game of the tournament they faced off against conference opponent Hiram. The game started off well for the Tigers as they built a five run lead in the first behind three errors by the Hiram fielders. But that five run lead would wilt as the Tiugers could only muster three more hits, all singles, for the next eight innings. Hiram on the other hand used the five errors that Wittenberg committed to mount a comeback that would eventually allow them to take the lead and maintain it as they won 8-5.

In a very error-prone game, maybe caused by the 10am starting time, the Tigers were unable to capitalize at key times later in the games. Junior Jason Holmberg started the game for the Tigers and was replaced in fourth by junior Ryan Goldschmidt. Both pitchers ahd a hard time against the Terrier batsmen, but both were also hurt by the porous defense behind them. 

In the bookend game of the tournament for the Tigers they faced the Engineers of Rose-Hulman. The Tigers gained an early lead in the second inning when the Rose-Hulman starting pitcher, Shawn Smith, walked in the first run of the game. The Tigers expanded their lead in the third when senior Matt Foster crossed the plate. Steve Less was pitching a shut out into the seventh inning when the bats of the Engineers began to catch fire. Aided by a couple of errors committed by the Wittenberg fielders the Engineers posted two runs in each of the final three innings to build a 6-2 advantage. The Tigers did their best to rally, but to no avail. They managed only 1 run in the ninth and fell to the Engineers 6-3 to close out the tournament. The Tigers were led by Fosetr who reached base in all four appearances with two hits and two walks. The Tigers fell to 7-5 on the season and play again on the 23rd against Marietta.