LAKELAND, Fla. — The Wittenberg baseball team moved back to even at 2-2 following a sweep of King's College on Sunday at Lake Bonny Park by scores of 10-4 and 12-3.
In the first game, senior Zach Spring (Powell, Ohio/Olentangy Liberty) pitched five innings and allowed three runs on five hits, two walks and four strikeouts to take home the win. Senior Sam Clement (Chicago, Ill./Whitney Young) struck out one in an inning of scoreless relief, and freshman Edison Henry (San Diego, Calif./Saint Augustine) made his collegiate debut to close the game on one hit, one run, one walk and one strikeout.
The Tigers put up seven runs in 2-1/3 innings against the King's starter, led by a 3-for-3, two-run, one-RBI, and four-stolen base outing by senior Ray Noe (Dublin, Ohio/Jerome) before he left in the third inning due to an injury.
Junior Andy Payton (Springfield, Ohio/North) drove home two runs on 1-for-2 hitting with a run scored, and six more Tigers each drove in a run. They included sophomore Nick Van Dyne (Hilliard, Ohio/Davidson), senior Mike Yednock (Worthington, Ohio/Thomas Worthington), junior Matt Hampp (Hilliard, Ohio/Davidson) and sophomore Graham Wolff (Lake Forest, Ill./Lake Forest). Hampp was 2-for-4 with a double, while Wolff went 2-for-3.
Altogether, the Tigers hit safely 14 times in the game while holding King's to six hits.
In the second game, Spring manned right field and made his presence felt at the plate in a big way. Spring drove in an impressive six runs on 4-for-4 hitting, including a pair of RBI doubles and two RBI singles. He also scored twice himself.
Junior Tim Little (Broadview, Ill./Kenwood Academy) pushed two runs across and scored once in a 1-for-4 day. He and Spring were joined in the RBI column by Van Dyne, Payton and senior Ben Gurney (Indianapolis, Ind./North Central) with one each. Payton was 2-for-3 with two runs scored and Gurney went 1-for-3 with a triple, while Hampp was 2-for-4 with three runs scored and Yednock went 2-for-4 and scored twice.
In Game 2, the Tigers put up a total of 16 hits in 35 at-bats (.457) while striking out just three times.
On the day, Noe and Spring both batted 1.000, as did sophomore Zac Daniels (Hilliard, Ohio/Davidson) with a pinch hit appearance in which he doubled. Payton was 3-for-5 with three RBIs and three runs, Hampp went 4-for-8 with one RBI and a double, and Van Dyne and Little each drove in two runs.
The Tigers play an early doubleheader with Waynesburg at 9 a.m. tomorrow, March 7, at Lake Myrtle Sports Complex in Auburndale, Fla.
John Strawn '07