Ryan Goldschmidt

Trent West

Despite sometimes inclement weather and harsh temperatures, the Tiger baseball team played five games in a busy week, losing to nationally ranked Marietta and Wooster and defeating Cedarville and Ohio Northern to finish the week 2-3.

Things don't get any easier this week as the Tigers are off until heading to Division I Dayton on Thursday for a 3 p.m. match-up. Then NCAC West Division play will be back on the Tigers' plate for the weekend as Earlham hosts Wittenberg for three games.Against Marietta, which was 14-2-1 after an 11-3 win over the Tigers last Tuesday, the Wittenberg highlights were almost solely provided by junior outfielder Trent West (Cincinnati, Ohio/Purcell Marian), who went 4-for-4. He is currently second on the team in batting average at .413.

Against Cedarville on Thursday, sophomore righthanded pitcher Kurt Hartfelder (Upper Arlington, Ohio/Upper Arlington) went eight strong innings for the win. He was supported offensively by senior outfielder Scott Hirsch (Cincinnati, Ohio/Colerain) and freshman outfielder Matt Foster (Granville, Ohio/Granville), who had identical lines of three hits in four at-bats, two runs scored and two runs batted in. Hirsch is the team's leading hitter with a .459 batting average.

Against Wooster, freshman Ryan Goldschmidt (Ft. Loramie, Ohio/Ft. Loramie)pitched well in the opener, but the Tigers managed just two hits in a 2-0 loss to the third-ranked team in the nation. In the nightcap, the Scots got the best of things again by a 12-5 count. Senior centerfielder Lance Dill (Bellville, Ohio/Clear Fork)had a 3-for-4 day offensively and freshman Jon Komperda (Bay Village, Ohio/Bay) was 2-for-2 off the bench, but it wasn't enough.

The Tigers rounded the week out with a Sunday afternoon affair opposite Ohio Northern. In a 14-12 slugfest, Wittenberg got the best of things as five players put together multiple-hit games, led by West with four hits and three runs scored, and junior first baseman Ryan Born (Marion, Ohio/Pleasant), who had three hits and three RBI.