SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - After a frustrating month spent mostly watching and waiting, Wittenberg senior Andrew Wellman (Huntington, W.Va./Huntington) provided the Wittenberg Tigers with one of the biggest highlights so far in the 2007 season with the game-winning hit in a 13-12 come-from-behind victory over nationally ranked Transylvania.
Wellman's 5-for-5 night, capped by a clutch, two-out RBI single in the bottom of the eighth inning, pushed his team back near the .500 mark for the season. The Tigers are now 11-12 overall with a four-game weekend series at home against Earlham looming.
After suffering a hamstring injury in the fourth game of the season, Wellman had started just once, going 1-for-3 against nationally ranked Otterbein on March 28. Still struggling with the effects of the injury, Wellman served as the Tigers' designated hitter and provided four singles, a walk and a double in the game, part of a 16-hit attack that was aided by two costly Transylvania errors in the eighth.
That led to five unearned runs for Wittenberg, the last of which was scored by juniorTyler Christello (Eaton, Ohio/Eaton), who had three hits in six plate appearances out of the leadoff spot. Junior Matt Steinke (Wapakoneta, Ohio/St. Mary's Memorial) added three hits, while freshman Chris Dorka (Worthington, Ohio/Thomas Worthington), freshman Kory Winter (Dublin, Ohio/Scioto) and junior Joel Puthoff (Houston, Ohio/Russia) all drove in two runs.
All that made a winner out of freshman pitcher Darin Mumaw (Fort Loramie, Ohio/Fort Loramie), who tossed 1.1 innings of relief after Transylvania scored four unearned runs in the seventh and eighth innings. The fourth Tiger pitcher of the night, Mumaw picked up his first collegiate victory by allowing just one baserunner and striking out two Pioneer hitters.