PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. - The Wittenberg Tigers put a bow on the 2005 Spring Break trip to Florida with a split against Tri-State University. Wittenberg dropped the opener 2-1 but rallied to win the nightcap 10-1 and finish the trip with a solid 6-2 record.
In the opener, an outstanding pitching performance by senior Ryan Goldschmidt went for naught thanks to an error and a passed ball in a decisive two-run Tri-State second inning. Goldschmidt took his second loss of the trip despite allowing two unearned runs on seven hits while striking out seven batters. He did walk five batters, but none of the runners who received free passes came around to score.
Offensively, Wittenberg picked up its lone run in the fourth inning as junior Justin McCulla tripled and freshman Joel Puthoff drove him in with a groundout. But the Tigers managed just four hits, the low for the trip, and a total of nine baserunners, seven of whom were stranded.
In the second game, the Tigers broke out on offense and received another oustanding pitching performance, this time from junior Jason Holmberg, who won for the second time on the trip with a tremendous one-hitter. He did not allow a hit until the seventh inning, and Tri-State's only run was unearned thanks to a first inning error - on Holmberg, ironically.
Wittenberg scored in six of the seven innings to give Holmberg all the support he would need. The Tigers banged out 15 hits in the game, including four each by freshman Jon Fox and senior Matt Foster. Fox also scored two runs and drove in three from his leadoff position, and he pushed his batting average over .600 for the young season. Senior Jon Komperda and junior Brad Koopman added two hits each and Puthoff contributed a pair of runs scored.