WESTERVILLE — Sophomore Alex Nemunaitis (Ottawa Hills, Ohio/Ottawa Hills) and freshman Xander Rodriguez (Salinas, P.R./Franklin County) both hit home runs as the Wittenberg baseball team fell 6-4 at Otterbein on Wednesday evening.

The Basics

• Records: Wittenberg (7-11 overall), Otterbein (16-5 overall)
• Venue: Fishbaugh Field - Westerville, Ohio
• Otterbein received 11 voting points in this week's D3baseball.com/NCBWA Top 25 Poll. Wednesday's game marked the Cardinals' home opener for the 2024 season.

Stat Leaders

• Nemunaitis finished the game with two hits, including the home run, to go with two RBIs, one walk and one run scored.
• Rodriguez's home run was part of a two-hit outing. He added one RBI and two runs to his stat line.
• Senior Conor O'Malley (Avon, Ohio/St. Edward's) and sophomore Tommy Chilicki (Lewis Center, Ohio/Olentangy) recorded two hits apiece.
• Junior Ben Seibert (Cincinnati, Ohio/LaSalle) added one hit and one RBI.
• Sophomore Andrew Rust (Dublin, Ohio/Coffman) got the pitching start for the Tigers. He allowed four runs (one earned) on three hits and one walk while striking out two over 4.2 innings.
• Grady Kehr earned the win on the mound for the Cardinals to improve to 2-0 on the season. He allowed two runs on seven hits while striking out five over five innings.

The Game

• The Cardinals opened the scoring with a solo home run in the bottom of the fourth inning.
• The Tigers responded with a leadoff homer from Nemunaitis in the top of the fifth to tie the score. Seibert added a one-out RBI single in the frame to put Wittenberg up 2-1.
• Otterbein regained the lead in the bottom of the fifth, scoring a run on a Tiger error and two more on a double for a 4-2 edge.
• The Cardinals tacked on two more runs in the bottom of the sixth via an RBI sac fly and RBI single for a 6-2 lead.
• Wittenberg loaded the bases in the top of the eighth. Rodriguez hit a leadoff single, and O'Malley added a one-out single prior to a walk to senior Matt Moore (Wadsworth, Ohio/Wadsworth). A walk to Nemunaitis scored a run, but relief pitcher Nick Plucinski recorded two straight outs to get out of the jam.
• Rodriguez brought the Tigers within two, 6-4, with a two-out solo homer in the bottom of the ninth, but the Tigers were unable to get any closer.
• Wittenberg out-hit Otterbein by an 11-6 margin but committed three errors to the Cardinals' none.

Quote - Head coach Brian McGee

• "We continue to beat ourselves in these games. We need to have the courage to execute the pitch, make the play or get the hit when it matters most. It's easy to do when there isn't much on the line. I expect our guys to be ballplayers, downright ballplayers."

Records & Milestones

• Eighth-year head coach Brian McGee is now 140-110 all-time at Wittenberg.
• Moore has 134 hits, 21 doubles and 99 RBIs in his career. He is 32 hits, 15 doubles and 10 RBIs shy of breaking into the program's all-time top 10 in those categories.
• O'Malley has 129 hits, 29 doubles, 14 home runs and 105 RBIs in his career. He ranks eighth all-time at Wittenberg in home runs and is 32 hits, seven doubles and four RBIs shy of breaking into the program's all-time top 10 in those categories.
• Senior Luke Thomas (Tallmadge, Ohio/Tallmadge) 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.

Up Next

• The Tigers return to action on Friday, opening North Coast Athletic Conference play with a doubleheader at Hiram beginning at 12 p.m.