AUBURNDALE, Fla. – The Wittenberg Tigers baseball team split a doubleheader with Wentworth Friday in Spring Break action.
The Tigers dropped the opener 12-7 before winning the second game 11-5, moving to 3-3 overall with one day left on their trip to Florida. Wittenberg plays Albion tomorrow, Saturday, March 14, at 10 a.m. before heading home.
Wentworth jumped out to a 4-3 lead through two innings in the first game and held the advantage the rest of the way. Senior Mike Burgher (Birmingham, Mich./Seaholm) took the loss after allowing just three earned runs in 4-2/3 innings pitched, hampered by five defensive errors behind him. He allowed nine hits and compiled two strikeouts.
Senior Zac Wilson (Eaton, Ohio/Eaton) went 2-for-4 with an RBI while freshman Erik Olson (Chicago, Ill./Loyola Academy) led the lineup with a 2-for-3 outing including two runs scored and two RBIs on a second-inning blast to left field.
Junior Corey Farnbauch (Hilliard, Ohio/Davidson) was 2-for-3 as the designated hitter and sophomore Dalton Boucher (Granville, Ohio/Granville) and sophomore Trent Champlin (Gahanna, Ohio/Lincoln) each smacked a double in the game.
In the win, Wittenberg jumped out to a two-run first-inning lead before Wentworth tied things up in the top of the second. Wittenberg regained the lead with two more runs in the bottom half of the inning, but Wentworth tacked on three runs in the fifth to reclaim the advantage.
The Tigers broke the game open, however, by responding with six runs in the bottom of the frame, powered by RBIs from junior Will Cousins (Medfield, Mass./Medfield), sophomore Josh Kaplan (Northbrook, Ill./Glenbrook North), freshman Eli Goolsby-Broschart (Indianapolis, Ind./Scecina Memorial) and Olson.
Goolsby-Broschart then added the stinger with an RBI single in the bottom of the sixth to establish the final margin.
Senior Frank Sullivan (Milford, Ohio/Milford) started the game on the mound and went 4-2/3 innings allowing just two hits and no earned runs with four strikeouts, but did not get the decision as senior Stu Haley (Winnetka, Ill./New Trier) had entered in relief, pitching 2-1/3 innings of three-hit, no-run baseball with five strikeouts.
John Strawn '07