SPRINGFIELD — The Wittenberg baseball team hit a combined seven home runs in a doubleheader split with Muskingum on Saturday afternoon in its home opener for the 2024 season. The Tigers hit three long balls in a 15-5 win in the first game and added four more in a 12-11 loss in the second game.

The Basics

• Records: Wittenberg (6-6 overall), Muskingum (7-7 overall)
• Venue: Carleton Davidson Stadium - Springfield, Ohio

Stat Leaders - Game 1

• Senior Conor O'Malley (Avon, Ohio/St. Edward's), junior Rocco Royer (Lake Bluff, Ill./Lake Forest) and freshman Xander Rodriguez (Salinas, P.R./Franklin County) hit home runs in the game for the Tigers.
• O'Malley added a double and finished with three hits, one RBI and three runs scored.
• Royer finished the game with four hits, three RBIs and three runs scored.
• Rodriguez tallied two hits, three RBIs and one run scored.
• Sophomore Alex Nemunaitis (Ottawa Hills, Ohio/Ottawa Hills) posted two hits, two RBIs and one run scored.
• Senior Matt Moore (Wadsworth, Ohio/Wadsworth) added two hits, one RBI and two runs scored.
• Senior Parker Gryskevich (Brownsburg, Ind./Brownsburg) had two hits and one run scored.
• Pitching in relief of senior starter Nick Cunningham (Fredericktown, Ohio/Fredericktown), junior Kyle Mahon (Dayton, Ohio/Centerville) earned the win on the mound for the Tigers, improving to 1-0 on the season. Mahon pitched 3.2 scoreless innings, allowing three hits and striking out four. Cunningham tallied four strikeouts over 4.1 innings.
• Gavin Hawk led the Muskingum offense with three hits, one RBI and one run scored.

Game 1 - Wittenberg 15, Muskingum 5

• After scoring a run on a wild pitch in the bottom of the first inning, the Tigers added three more runs in the third via a solo homer from O'Malley and a two-run homer from Rodriguez.
• Royer added a three-run homer in the fourth, giving the Tigers a 7-0 lead.
• The Muskies responded with a five-run fifth frame that included a solo home run, an RBI double, RBI single and 2-RBI single to close the gap to 7-5.
• A 2-RBI single from Nemunaitis increased the Wittenberg lead to 9-5 in the bottom of the fifth.
• Sophomore James MacAuley (Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich./Grosse Pointe North) hit an RBI single in the bottom of the sixth for a 10-5 Tiger lead.
• Wittenberg capped the scoring with a five-run seventh frame highlighted by an RBI single from Moore and 2-RBI double from junior Ben Seibert (Cincinnati, Ohio/LaSalle).
• Wittenberg out-hit Muskingum by a 17-12 margin, and each team committed two errors.

Stat Leaders - Game 2

• Sophomore Tommy Chilicki (Lewis Center, Ohio/Olentangy) led the Tiger offense, going 4-for-4 with a home run and a double to go with four RBIs and two runs scored.
• Nemunaitis, Rodriguez and freshman Thatcher Dietz (Westerville, Ohio/South) also hit home runs in the game.
• Rodriguez finished with two hits, two RBIs and two runs scored.
• Seibert tallied two hits, including a double, and scored two runs in the game.
• Junior Nate Floyd (Akron, Ohio/Copley) got the pitching start for Wittenberg and tallied five strikeouts over four innings.
• Senior Joe Horoszko (Seven Hills, Ohio/St. Edward's) finished with eight strikeouts in pitching 4.2 innings in relief.

Game 2 - Muskingum 12, Wittenberg 11

• Wittenberg made a late comeback in the game after trailing 11-4 going into the sixth inning.
• The Muskies got on the scoreboard first with two runs in the top of the first, but the Tigers got an RBI double from Chilicki and RBI single from MacAuley to tie the score at 2-all in the bottom of the second.
• RBI singles from Chilicki and senior Luke Thomas (Tallmadge, Ohio/Tallmadge) in the bottom of the fourth put the Tigers up 4-2.
• Muskingum tallied six hits and took advantage of three Tiger errors in a nine-run top of the fifth for the 11-4 lead.
• The Tigers' comeback began with a two-run homer from Rodriguez and a solo shot from Chilicki on back-to-back at-bats following a Seibert double to lead off the bottom of the sixth, cutting the deficit to 11-7.
• Chilicki added an RBI single in the sevents, and Nemunaitis hit a two-run homer in the eighth to bring the Tigers within one, 11-10.
• The Muskies got an insurance run on a solo homer in the top of the ninth for a 12-10 lead.
• Pinch hitting, Dietz hit a solo homer to lead off the bottom of the ninth to get the Tigers within one, 12-11.
• Gryskevich added a one-out double, and Nemunaitis followed with a walk. But the Tigers were unable to bring the runners home.
• The Tigers tallied seven extra-base hits in the game — four home runs and three doubles — and matched Muskingum with 13 total hits. Wittenberg committed four errors to the Muskies' three.

Records & Milestones

• Eighth-year head coach Brian McGee is now 139-105 all-time at Wittenberg.
• Moore has 129 hits, 21 doubles and 97 RBIs in his career. He is 37 hits, 15 doubles and 12 RBIs shy of breaking into the program's all-time top 10 in those categories.
• O'Malley has 115 hits, 29 doubles, 12 home runs and 101 RBIs in his career. He is 46 hits, seven doubles, one home run and eight RBIs shy of breaking into the program's all-time top 10 in those categories.
• Thomas has 112 hits and 27 doubles in his career. He is 54 hits and nine doubles shy of breaking into the program's all-time top 10 in those categories.
• Horoszko now has 101 career strikeouts, and Cunningham has 97 career strikeouts.

Up Next

• The Tigers return to action on Sunday for games against Eastern Connecticut State at 1:15 p.m. and Marietta at 4:30 p.m. at Marietta in the BSN Sports Invitational.