SPRINGFIELD, Ohio – The Wittenberg baseball team dropped a pair of games in a rescheduled doubleheader with Denison University on Tuesday, falling by scores of 8-2 and 11-4.

The Tigers now stand at 4-15 overall and 1-7 in the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) West Division after making up the pair of games originally scheduled for Saturday, April 5.

Game One saw Denison jump out to a 7-0 lead after two innings. The Tigers scored twice in the second inning as junior Zac Wilson (Eaton, Ohio/Eaton) and freshman Dalton Boucher (Granville, Ohio/Granville) posted back-to-back RBI singles.

The Big Red picked up another run in the sixth to establish the final margin. Sophomore Jordan Hitt (South Charleston, Ohio/Southeastern) took the loss in six innings of work, and freshman Danny Callahan (Dublin, Ohio/Jerome) contributed an inning of relief, holding Denison to one hit, one walk and no runs.

Wilson and Boucher each finished the game 1-for-3, while senior Alex Lochard (Sidney, Ohio/Sidney) was 1-for-2.

In Game Two, Denison again jumped out to an early lead with a six-run third inning. The Big Red added another two runs in the sixth before Wittenberg got on the board with two.

In the bottom of the sixth, Wilson led off with a single and senior Tyler Hutchinson (Lebanon, Ohio/Cincinnati Moeller) followed with one of his own. Lochard ripped a double to left field to score Wilson, and a subsequent ground out by freshman Josh Kaplan (Northbrook, Ill./Glenbrook North) pushed Hutchinson across.

Denison responded with three more runs in the seventh to make it an 11-2 ballgame, but Wittenberg had something in store for the eighth. Wilson was hit by a pitch to earn a spot on the base paths, and then stole second and third on consecutive pitches, and when sliding into third, the throw from the plate sailed into left field allowing him to score.

After watching all this from the batter's box, Hutchinson walked and later came around to score on a sacrifice fly by junior Mike Burgher (Birmingham, Mich./Seaholm) to cut the Denison lead to 11-4.

For the game, Lochard was 1-for-3 with an RBI, Kaplan 1-for-4 with an RBI, freshman Cal Slusarz (Chesterland, Ohio/West Geauga) 1-for-4, freshman Ben Dobrowolski (Milford, Ohio/Milford) 1-for-3, Wilson 1-for-3 with two runs scored and two stolen bases, and Hutchinson 1-for-2 with two runs scored and a walk.

The Tigers get back to business tomorrow, Wednesday, April 9, with a 4 p.m. game at former NCAC foe Earlham College in Richmond, Ind.

John Strawn '07