Richmond, Ind. – The Wittenberg baseball team opened the season on the road with first two of a four-game series with the Earlham Quakers. Wittenberg battled to an 11-7 loss in the opener, before going on to drop the second game 12-2.

GAME ONE

Wittenberg threatened in the second inning after Earlham took an early 4-0 lead. The Tigers refused to go away, collecting three hits through the first three innings. Wittenberg chipped away at the Quaker lead, plating their first run in the fourth inning with Jack Siefert coming around to score on the Ryan Probst RBI single. Jack Hollinshead would come around to score in the same inning on the Jace Barga single past the Earlham defense. Bringing the game back to even in the top of the fifth, Wittenberg scored two more runs on the Siefert RBI double, bringing in Tim Bates. The Tigers scored their second run of the fifth as Hayden Knox laced a single to score Siefert. Wittenberg would score a run in the sixth inning, as Probst would first reach on the Earlham error and advancing on the passed ball. Probst came into score on the Matt Baker RBI groundout to short. Hollinshead went deep in the seventh with Justin Bargar on board, to score the final two Tiger runs. Earlham would go on to score three runs in the eighth inning with three hits, stranding two runners. Wittenberg tallied nine hits, without committing an error in their first game. Tanner Griggs got the start in the opener, allowing nine hits and striking out six over 4.1 innings pitched. Michael Martin closed things out with two innings pitched giving up four hits and two striking out two.

GAME TWO

Wittenberg plated their first run in the second inning on the Hollinshead fly out to right, scoring Siefert. Earlham would take a 4-1 lead in the third inning, adding five runs more in the fifth inning. The Tigers would plate their next run in the seventh inning trailing 11-1, when a Knox ground ball to the left side would bring in David Hamrick. Wittenberg collected six hits in the second game against the Quakers. Rusty Hayhurst took the bump to start game two facing 23 Earlham hitters over four innings, allowing seven hits. Luke Campbell faced six hitters in one inning pitched and three hits. Jack Bayhurst closed out the final three innings against 18 Quaker batters with five hits allowed.

UP NEXT: Wittenberg will return to Richmond, Ind. to take on Earlham and close out the series Monday, February 26 with two games set to begin at 6:00 PM.