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Ryan Born

The Tiger baseball team appeared to be in transition in 2003, but after a fast start it was hoped that the young talent called upon to replace huge graduation losses of a year ago was maturing unusually fast. After five losses last week that dropped the Tigers out of contention for the NCAC Tournament, which only includes the top two teams in each division, it has become clear that is not the case.

The week opened with a 7-5 loss to Thomas More on Tuesday. In that game, the Tigers moved out to a 4-1 lead in the fifth inning, but Wittenberg was unable to put together a big inning, something the Saints did in the sixth and seventh as they struck for six runs. Offensively, sophomores Matt Foster (Granville, Ohio/Granville) and Jon Komperda (Bay Village, Ohio/Bay) each had three hits, while freshmen Brad Koopman (Pleasant Hill, Ohio/Newton) and Adam Keller (Mechanicsburg, Ohio/Mechanicsburg) added two base knocks apiece.

On Thursday, the Tigers dropped both ends of a doubleheader at NCAC West leader Denison, 8-2 and 7-1. In those games, the Tigers fell behind in the first inning both times and couldnt quite catch up. Sophomore Brandon Godzik (Vandalia, Ohio/Butler) had two RBI in the opener and another in the nightcap, while freshman K.R. Schlievert (Findlay, Ohio/Findlay) collected three hits and had the lone run in the second game.

On Saturday, the Tigers wrapped up a disappointing week with losses of 5-4 and 16-9 to the Big Red. In the first game, Wittenberg wasted a strong starting performance by senior Adam Abraham (Granville, Ohio/Granville), who allowed just two earned runs. Godzik had three hits and senior Ryan Born (Marion, Ohio/Pleasant) added two hits and two RBI to lead the offense.

In Game 2, freshman Bret Wiseman (New Richmond, Ohio/New Richmond) had two hits and three RBI off the bench, Schlievert added two hits and Foster scored two runs.

The Tigers late-season slide continued Monday in a 13-9 defeat against Ohio Northern at the Municipal Stadium Annex. The game was a microcosm of the teams 2003 season - a young team that was competitive but was unable to take advantage of its offensive opportunities. Born crushed two home runs and had four RBI, but the Polar Bears scored three unearned runs in the top of the ninth to gain just enough cushion to stave off a late Tiger rally.

This weekend, Wittenberg heads to Ohio Wesleyan for four games against the defending NCAC West champion Bishops. The season wraps up next week with nonconference games against Mt. St. Joseph and Otterbein and one final NCAC doubleheader to-be-determined.