Chillicothe, OH – The Wittenberg Tiger Baseball team fell in the North Coast Athletic Conference Championship, 7-2, to the Big Red from Denison University. Completing the Tiger's best season in school history and setting a new single-season wins mark, Wittenberg ended their historic run with an overall record at 32-10 and 14-2 in NCAC regular season play.
The championship game was a battle with the Big Red. Wittenberg collected seven hits to Denison's 14 on the afternoon.
Wittenberg would put up their first run during their first at-bat in the top of the first inning, before the Big Red responded with two runs in the bottom half. Neither team would be able to push across a running in the second or third inning.
The Big Red added to their advantage in the fourth, taking their lead out 3-1. Wittenberg responded in the fifth inning with a two-out rally, starting with a single through the left side from Chase Whisner. After Whisner stole second, Conor O'Malley drove in the second Wittenberg run of the afternoon with a single up the middle.
After holding the Big Red scoreless in the fifth and sixth innings, Denison found an offensive spark in the seventh and eighth innings to extend their lead. Adding one run in the seventh inning, the Big Red tallied three more in the eighth to push across the insurance runs.
Wittenberg would rely on a stable of arms in the championship game, going to senior Joe Horoszko for the start. Horoszko would put in 3.1 innings of work with one strikeout and eight hits allowed. The Tigers would turn to Charlie Schafer for the middle third of the action, with Schafer tossing 3.1 innings and striking out one and allowing three hits. Nick Cunningham and Kyle Mahon would close out the final innings as the Wittenberg season would end.
This season will go down in the Wittenberg record books as one of the most successful in Wittenberg Tiger baseball history. The Tigers put together a new program winning streak record at 15 wins, beginning on April 2 with a sweep of Hiram going all the way through April 26 with an exciting walk-off win over nationally-ranked Baldwin Wallace.
Michael Osmond would tie the single-season strikeout record at 78 in his first appearance at the NCAC Tournament. Osmond fanned eight Denison batters in the first game against the Big Red, in the winner's bracket game on Friday morning. He now joins Rocky Alt at the top spot who set the Tiger record in 1970.